Whirlpool's Rose
by Neithie
Summary: The story of how Minato, the future fourth Hokage, met Kushina during the Third Ninja War. Spoiler warnings, some blood, war, killings, ect. And a couple of teenagers. o.o
1. Chapter 1

Flee on sight.

He stood there, just a few hundred feet away, yellow hair almost lost in the yellow-orange of the sun behind him as it set. She wasn't sure if he was looking in her direction or not, the sun blinded her so much. She was terrified for the first time since they'd started this. It was_him_.

Flee on sight.

At sight of Konoha's Yellow Flash, that was the only order. Allies or enemies, the order was the same; he was too dangerous and too unpredictable to meet with in a situation like this. And for her, who was still only a genin, that made a lot of sense.

She'd been fighting for hours, days maybe, defending her village and her country beside her sensei and two genin days out of the Academy team without end and without rest. Kushina knew she looked frightening, her blood-red hair was stiff with the wet and dried blood of others and her own, she had splatters, streaks, gushing wounds, all that matched her hair perfectly, her vivid blue eyes stood out horribly against the clash of red and black. And she was still small and childish. Maybe she _was_ still a child. Kushina knew that she probably looked unhuman. She still grinned but it was stiff and only out of habit- there was nothing left to grin about.

The other two had already been killed, the other two from her team, she'd seen one and lost the other. She kept seeing it, even now, the other girl being struck from behind with a blade; it had split her head from the top right down to her eyes. She didn't die straight away. Kushina would hear her feeble moans and cries for her mother till the day she died. That girl was supposed to be the heir to their clan, she was supposed to grow up and be a medical nin, she was supposed to have been 'Kushina-chan's new best friend!'

And the boy... one moment he was there, the next he was gone with only blood and his weapon left behind to prove that he existed at all. She didn't know where. He was the youngest in a large family of shinobi and he was quiet. That was all she knew about him. Kushina wished she'd asked him more, wished she'd realized that it was really -war- they were going into, wished that there hadn't been a war at all.

They'd both only been fighting with her and her sensei because her team had been killed a few weeks before. Kushina felt like she should have protected them both more. They were only a few years younger but they were like children -they didn't know war or fear or hatred yet.

Kushina had to keep going though, sorrow, fear, anger, hatred, she had to put it all into keeping fighting, she had to keep going till she collapsed and couldn't do any sort of damage. If she fell, then she'd just try and stab them with her kunai in her teeth, if she lost that then she'd try and stick tags on them with her mouth. She knew she had to keep going till she was dead, unconscious or till she couldn't move. Kushina wouldn't die without letting them know her intent to harm them.

Couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. The smell of blood, of death, of pain, it filled her nostrils, her head felt light, and the fear of the man who'd created the stories was enough to take away what tiny will she had left. Her sensei was already gone. He'd have moved out of the way into a safe location, she didn't have his protection, and the shinobi attacking and defending had gone too. There were only the moans of the dying, the screams, exploding, and yells to flee...

Fight without mercy, kill without hesitation, keep going till she couldn't go anymore; flee without shame if Konoha's Yellow Flash was seen.

'_Well,'_ she thought as her legs gave way_, 'I'm just fleeing into a different place to the others.'_ Kushina felt the pain of sharp rocks and other things dig into her face, her body, and her arm bent awkwardly under her, she would have winced if she'd had the energy. Instead she just lay there like a dead thing, eyes wide, staring at the small blades of green grass that were flecked and stained with blood, waiting for the darkness to come and help her flee to a better place. It came quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

It was Minato that stumbled across the small body. No.. Stumbled was the wrong word for it. He'd seen the boy yesterday, as he'd come over the small hill to look down into the area the other ninjas were fighting, and he'd seen him fall. Minato had been sure that the boy had collapsed because he'd died; Minato had only seen a shock of blood red hair, red face, cut clothing with skin stained with red. He'd thought that perhaps it was a head injury that killed the smaller shinobi and hadn't felt brave enough to find out where the boy was from till now.

Minato hadn't expected to find the boy breathing when he'd gently pulled the boy over onto his back. The boy, who had to be a head or more shorter than Minato was, was still clutching onto a kunai with a grip that made his knuckles go white and there was a small smile on the boy's stained face. When he'd checked all the red areas, there was an infected leg, some smaller infected cuts and scratches, and a fever... but although he was in bad shape, he wasn't dying at _that _very second. There was a feeling of relief like Minato had never felt before and he almost fell on top of the boy. Just how old was this kid, anyway? It was hard to tell in the dark night.

Minato pried the fingers away from the kunai and gently lifted the boy into his arms, careful not to jolt him too much, amazed at just how light he was to carry. He felt starved too- there was that repulsive feeling of bones too close to the surface. He'd heard that the Whirlpool Village had been running out of food. Information had been that with all the refugees and all the fleeing people coming to hide in the hidden village, the Whirlpool Village had run out of supplies for several weeks. They'd sent for help from Konoha because they couldn't leave their village to go for more food, they knew they'd be discovered soon and they'd be starving and weakened when it was time to defend themselves.

Minato stepped carefully over the bodies of other Whirlpool shinobi as he made his way through the forest, towards the camps of the Konoha shinobi. The Konoha shinobi had hurried as soon as they'd received word but the invading shinobi had been faster. And with the Whirlpool shinobi so weakened in body, it'd been a devestating blow. A lot of talented shinobi were lost and it'd take a long time for the village to really recover.

He was close to the border of the camps and slowed down to a walk, knowing that soon a scout'd find him. Just as he had, a kunai was flung into the dirt in front of him as a warning.

"Identify yourself." One of the lookouts appeared from behind a tree.

Minato gently put the boy down and quickly performed his jutsu, transporting to a seal on one of the nearby trees. It wasn't unusual for an enemy to pretend to be him, and they'd agreed to leave seals near the scout's locations so that he could prove quickly that he was himself. No one else could do that jutsu.

The scout seemed satisfied and gestured to the boy. "And..."

"Another Whirlpool shinobi, has an infected injury, needs a medic-nin."

"I'll let them know you're coming with him." There was the sound of insects around the man as he melted into the dark trees. One of the bugs landed on Minato's head, another on the boy's head. Minato held back a shudder- he was somewhat squeamish about insects... but it was just another way to identify him as the real one. The Aburame clan always made the best scouts.

Minato lifted the boy again and quickened his pace again now that he was identified. Other scouts, all members of the Aburame clan, wouldn't stop him now that he'd been identified. And the medic-nins would be warned of another casualty. He knew that they wouldn't be overly excited by this as today had been a long day. A lot of people had been hurt.

He was right, the moment he'd stepoed through the tent flaps, they'd taken the boy, laid him down on a bed and gave him a quick glance over. After a minute they decided that the boy could wait till they'd healed some of the more serious wounds that others had. Even if he did have some infections that had started, even if he had been delirious, even if he was starting to sweat, there just wasn't enough medic-nin to take care of everyone.

Minato decided to stay and take care of the boy himself. The boy, who Minato found to be a girl when he tried to change the clothes, was just as thin limbed and bony as he'd... no, she'd felt. But without a top on, there was no question that those were... small as they were... that those were... well, that she _was_a girl. Flustered and red-faced he'd covered her up as quickly as he could with his jacket and rushed off to find a female shinobi. He had found Tsunade who'd been amused at just how uncomfortable he'd gotten. But how could anyone blame him? The girl was short, bony, wore boy's clothes and looked like a boy, she was thin, small _there_, her skin and hair wasn't exactly soft like Minato had come to associate with females, and she'd clearly been fighting for some time. Females could make great shinobi but most didn't have the stamina of a male.

Of course he didn't say any of that to Tsunade. Minato stood there meekly with his back to Tsunade and the girl and ignored her when she'd asked him what about the girl was masculine.

"Clearly," she'd said as she threw the jacket back at him, "It's a female Ninja. You can turn around now."

He turned and mumbled an agreement, knowing it was better to not argue the matter. Minato sat down beside the bed again and reached over to take the cloth out of the basin to wipe the blood off the girl's face. The girl's eyes opened and for a moment he forgot his earlier confusion about her gender. She may have looked like a boy with her eyes shut and her body in such a state, but with her eyes open, she looked more femininel. Those eyes were huge and while his eyes were a light clear blue, hers were darker and had a touch of green. Or was that just the firelight that made them look like that? And the lashes that framed the eyes...

She looked confused and frightened and pushed his hands away. Her eyes rolled back and she sunk back into unconsciousness again.

"Clearly... she is." He muttered and reached back down to wipe her face again; missing the lingering look that Tsunade gave him.

She dreamt.

There was the faces of the two younger gennin. They swam before her in blackness, their faces contorted, bloody, painful, the words 'failed them' seemed to repeat till they lost all meaning to her. Her sensei's face drifted in front of her, eyes glazed, body in a crocked shape like the limbs had been pulled away from his body till they'd cracked off, like he was a limp rag doll with his legs bent under and over him. Her two old team members, also dead, also contorted, bloody, eyes glazed and staring into nothing.

And him. Kushina dreamt of him too. His face, only inches away, that yellow hair against the black, his hands reaching down for her, terror at the sight of him, terror at the idea that he was about to hurt her more, terror and the driving urge to flee, flee anywhere, and flee she did. She fled further into the blackness and into the pain where even the Yellow Flash couldn't find her. There she hovered, till she found herself seeing him again. He was near her again, wiping her forehead with a wet cloth, something wet and cool running down her face like blood. She pushed at his hands and saw blood dripping from his hands, from the cloth, even his face seemed to be covered in it, it was red, everything was red... and she fled from the sight again.

She dreamt of the lands of her world, grasslands, forests, trees grown and nursed by the Ninja who used them as elevated roads and battlegrounds, of the sky, the sun, the clouds, fields of food, oceans, and they always started off peaceful. Then the sky darkened, blood ran in the water, weapons rained down instead of rain, and she saw those closest to her dying again, dying in the fields, dying in the water, dying in every possible manner. Kushina cried out to them, tried to warn them when a weapon was flung at them, when a jutsu was about to be cast on them, cried and tried but always failed.

Finally she dreamt of food. Piles and piles of it, noodles, eggs, chicken, beef, lamb, vegetables, breads, rice, pork, all of it fresh, nothing stale or rotting, and as much as she wanted. She was drooling so much that she was sure a puddle was forming underneath her.

"No, don't... I haven't eaten you yet... come back."

Kushina's eyes flew open and as she blinked rapidly, she twisted her head. A bright light coming in through the window nearby stung her eyes.

'Window? Am I dead?' Kushina forced herself to turn and stare at the window, shifting her head off a damp patch on the pillow as she did. As her eyes adjusted she saw buildings beyond the window and a blue sky. The room she was in was bare and small with a few small flowers sitting in a vase next to her. There was a smell too...

"Food!" That made Kushina sit up and fling herself out of bed. She almost fell over again and clutched at the side of the bed till her head stopped spinning. It was probably because she hadn't eaten yet so how nice of the afterlife to have food somewhere close enough to be smelt!

Kushina snatched up a pile of clothes that sat on a chair next to her and stared at them critically. One of the things was a knee length dress, dark pink and white, that looked like it'd be tight and uncomfortable. And black shoes. Apparently the afterlife had guessed she was a female because it had provided some horrible girlish clothing for her to dress in.

'Is that a frill? No… it couldn'…it _is_ a frill. Urgh.'

The least the afterlife could have done was provide her some pants to go with the dress, then she'd be fine with the apparent girliness of it. For a while. But apparently the afterlife wasn't that kind.

The smell of food caught Kushina's attention again and she decided that she'd worry about dresses and frills when she'd had something to eaten. She tugged on the dress, ignored the shoes, and went to the window. There was a beautiful town outside it, children were outside, adults walking around, faces in the cliff, there was even the sound of laughter. Laughter! Kushina hadn't heard that sound for a long time. And there, in a small building, she could see a glimpse of…

"Food!"

No time to find a door and find the way out of the building! Kushina clambered out of the window and somehow climbed down in the dress, ripping it up a bit in the process. But it was the afterlife's fault for giving her a dress in the first place. Kushina ran across the dirt road, ignoring the way the rocks dug into her feet and happily slid into the seat.

"What would you like?"

"Ramen!" She grinned at him.

"…what type?"

"Don't care." There was a very loud rumble of her stomach, apparently brought on by the sight and smell of the food just a few feet away. Kushina's grin turned a bit sheepish and she scratched her head a bit. "…it feels like days since I've eaten."

"Surprise it is!" He laughed and turned around. "Haven't seen you here before?"

"I think… I'm new here." She wasn't sure how to say 'I just flew into the afterlife, how long have you been dead?'.

"You think? That's okay; there are a lot of new people now because of the war. I hope you like it here." He hesitated and looked back at her. She knew he was looking her over, as if he was seeing the scars that would have been on her body, her thin half-starved body, the way her eyes sunk into her head and he continued, "You can have this on the house, you've probably been through a lot."

"Thankyou." She smiled, but she was a bit confused now. 'Money? In the afterlife? Strange… but who knows what they have for me here.' "Oh! Do you… do you see many new people, I mean, have you…"

"You're looking for someone?" He turned around again to look at her. Kushina nodded and he suddenly looked a bit sadder, a bit tireder, and a bit older. "There'll be a list and photos in the hospital of refugees brought here. But…"

"Refugees?"

"You are one, aren't you?"

"I…" Wasn't she dead? Kushina hesitated and stared at her hands, at her arms, at her body. She hadn't wanted to see the scars and bruises before and it was only now that she really could see them. The idea of afterlife was easier than thinking she'd survived. She could have seen those kids, and seen her old teammates, seen people from her village. And now she knew, she couldn't just walk off and find them, she couldn't talk to them, she was still alive and in some strange place. But _of__course_ she wasn't dead. "Yeah."

"Konoha will take care of you as long as you need a home and shelter." He turned back to the food and started to prepare it for her. "The war comes here too but we've got strong shinobi to protect us."

'_Konoha.'_ She turned around and stared at the village again. Now that she looked she could see some Konoha shinobi and there was that strangeness in the town's setout that was foreign to Kushina._'Home?'_

A bowl was plonked down in front of her. Kushina's uneasy mind was pushed aside as her hunger returned in full force, and all she cared about for the next five minutes was putting as much down as fast as she could.

The girl didn't notice when he slipped into the seat beside her and he gestured to the man to ignore him. He wouldn't have recognized her if he hadn't been sneaking in to see her so frequently and had seen the small changes- she was clean, her red hair wasn't stiff and spiky, her larger wounds were covered with bandages and the smaller ones were healing perfectly. She was wearing a dress and not that black and grey outfit that made her look like a boy.

The girl would have been almost prettyif she hadn't been shovelling down noodles without so much as a pause for breath, if she hadn't forgotten her shoes, if she hadn't ripped the dress and already somehow gotten her legs, knees, feet, and dress covered in stains. The medic-nins had claimed they'd never seen her leave and now Minato knew why- she must have climbed out the window. He could see a pink bit of her dress still dangling from the waterpipe.

"That was _so_ good." Kushina pushed the bowl away and sighed happily, putting a hand on her stomach. "You cook great ramen, it almost filled me up! Usually one bowl can't do that. It's a compliment to your cooking that you can."

Minato almost fell off his chair, one of his legs slipping off the stool and he had to grab the counter to stop him from falling any further. She'd wolfed it down, a double serving of raman, and she was still hungry?! "You're _still_ hungry?"

She jumped and stared sideways at the young man who sat next to her. There was instant surprise, when had he sat down?!, and then fear, unrationed fear that she didn't understand, it took her a few moments to remember who _he_ was and where _she_ was. And she was in a foreign village, surrounded by foreign ninja, including this Yellow Flash, and here she was eating raman! Kushina stood up hurriedly. "I…I…I'll go back to the room. I'm sorry, I didn't think that I was… that I shouldn't just walk around your village. I was just hu… I'll go back, I'm sorry."

"No!" Minato grabbed at her arm and she stared at him with those same wide fearful eyes that he'd seen a few days before. He _hated_ that expression. It made her look childish, and it made him feel like he was bullying her somehow by just being there next to her. "No, I'm not here to take you back. I was just passing by… you're hungry still?"

She nodded slowly, uncertainty, and stood frozen to the spot.

Why did he feel like he was suddenly trying to coax a scared animal out of a corner with food? "I'll take you to another place to eat. You can taste Konoha's finest… besides this fine booth, of course." He smiled in a way that he hoped wasn't threatening, eyes darting to the ripped dress, and added, "After you get something better to wear."

"Oh. I'm … I was never good in dresses. I didn't mean to rip it." She suddenly felt ashamed on top of everything else, how could she just ripped someone else's clothes without a shred of guilt? "Food…? No… I'm not hungry. I'll just go back to the room." Kushina's eyes darted to the direction of the raman again though and there was that hungry look in her eyes, she _did_ want more. But she felt guilty. You didn't just walk around a strange hidden village.

Minato felt his heart sink. Why did he have to notice the clothing? He grabbed at her hand, tugging her away towards the hospital. He laughed, partly to try and relax himself as much as her, and insisted, "Come on, I'm sure they'll have something for you to wear. Then you'll come with me and I'll let you have as much as you like."

Kushima with her fear ebbing away somewhat, was he really laughing at her? Konoha's Yellow Flash, walking down the street laughing with his eyes full of something that wasn't at all threatening? Was he really that famous killer, feared by allies and by enemies? But how could she mistake his yellow hair? Normal people didn't have yellow hair. As soon as he was sure she was following, he'd let go her hand and she felt herself following close beside him anyway.

"Um. Are you… are you really…really… you know?" She asked. Kushima didn't usually hesitate about asking a direct question, but somehow she couldn't quite bring out the words today.

"Really what?" Minato glanced down at her.

"You know. Him. K…Konoha's Yellow Flash."

"I suppose I am." Why did she have to bring that up?

There was a flicker of something in his face then, something that made her wish she hadn't asked. It was almost like the face she'd seen on the battlefield, the one she'd seen in her dreams, a face that reminded her of the war. It was hard to explain just what exactly it was, it was gone before she could put a word to it.

Minato shook his head, trying to clear the nastier feeling out. "Here I'm known as Namikaze Minato."

"I'm Uzumaki Kushina. It's an honour to meet you, Minato-sama."

He smiled and shook his head. "Think of me as a friend, Kushina-san."

"Okay." She glanced away from his face as they went into the hospital and quietly followed him up the stairs and into the room she'd woken in. He may have tried to make her believe he was just a normal person, like her, but it was hard to believe it. Everyone had looked up to stare at the two of them as they'd passed, others had greeted him, and complete strangers had smiled at her when she was sure they'd usually ignore her.

"I'll go find something, wait here. And your forehead protector is at home… I forgot to bring it today." Minato didn't meet her eyes and she didn't dare ask why he had it. Maybe it had to be taken off at some point. He added quickly, "But I'll collect it on the way."

"Okay."

He hesitated a moment before he left, pretending to fiddle with something in his pockets. Minato didn't really understand why he was hesitating, and he glanced back at the girl. For a moment he felt like he wanted to say something else. But it was hard to think of what. No… he didn't have anything to say. But he had to say something now; she was waiting for him to say something. Minato stared back at her and tried to not freeze. He'd never really thought about females before, never tried dating one, laughed at his friends for being smitten in a day… and yet the way she looked, standing there in that dress, it ripped up so that he could see more leg than what he was used to, her darker blue eyes gazing at him with_that_ expression… "Um. What colours… what colours do you wear?"

Kushina just shrugged. She felt small again under that expression. It almost made her afraid again; Kushina knew it wasn't the same look as the others he'd been giving her, it was far more intense and she had no idea what she was supposed to do when he had that expression. "I…I don't mind. Anything that isn't bright pink, I guess."

He nodded and turned to go out the door. Kushina sat down on the bed and tried to not worry about such a small thing as faces.

Minato stopped in a small empty room and leaned against the wall. He didn't know why, but he felt like he needed a moment to collect his mind again. How could such a short time with the girl make him feel so… so… so disturbed?

When she'd asked if he was the Yellow Flash, it'd stung somehow, as if that was a side of him that he hadn't wanted to think about. He normally didn't care, it was an honour to be so famous, to have the skills he had, he was lucky and blessed to be the way he was. Minato normally was proud to be that shinobi. In fact, he was more than proud, he loved it. Loved that the Hokage trusted him with a team at his age, loved that he was spoken to and treated as an adult when his friends weren't, loved everything about being that legend.

But somehow he didn't like it today. Not just today, it was yesterday too, and the day before, and the day before, all four days since he'd seen her standing there frozen in amongst the fleeing shinobi, staring at him with an expression that was too terrified to be allowed on her face. He'd seen her fall and for the first time that Minato could ever recall he'd felt some sort of guilt about it, so much so that he'd felt too guilty to check if the body was alive or not. He was sure that the shinobi had fallen over dead with that expression in his face, _that_ expression that _he_ had caused. The relief that the boy, who turned out to be a her and named Kushina, was the most overwhelming thing he'd felt. That relief had even paralysed his muscles for a moment so that he'd fallen across Kushina.

'_Maybe,_' he thought as he stared at the blank white wall in front of him_, 'That's why I've been so attentive. Insisting on being the one to take him… no, her… to the medic-nins, and visiting, and the flowers… that expression I put on his… no, her… face.'_

That had to be it. And he'd seen that childish face again just before, when he'd surprised her, it had made him suddenly want to do everything to prove to the girl that he wasn't at all scary, that he wasn't threatening, that he'd never harm her.

…. But was she childish? Now that he thought about it, she wasn't really all that childish. She was probably only a few years younger than him, maybe less; Kushina just looked young with her bones too far out and her face so large and gaunt. He'd feed her today, feed her as much as she wanted and whatever she wanted. Minato wanted to see that starved look vanish quickly.

"Minato-sama?" A hand was on his shoulder and a medic-nin stared at him with some concern.

"Uh. Clothes. The girl from room 42, she needs clothes, pants and a top and nothing bright pink."

If the man was surprised that he was getting this information from Minato and not from Kushina herself, he didn't say anything about it, just nodded and went into an adjoining room. He called as he searched, "Is she awake then?"

"Yes, and hungry. I was going to take her for something to eat."

"What's her name?"

"Kushina-san."

"I'll put her name on her picture on the board downstairs." The man came back out with an armful of clothing. "She can try these on and see if any fit."

"Okay."

"And nothing strenuous today for her. She shouldn't be walking at all… but I suppose you'll make sure she isn't hurt."

Minato resisted telling him that she'd already climbed down several stories of the hospital to eat raman. "I will. I'll tell her. Thankyou."

She was sitting on the bed when he returned, and was fiddling with the flowers he'd left there.

"Try these on, see if any fit." Minato put the clothes on the bed beside her.

"Thankyou."

"And don't overdo it again, you're still healing. You might hurt yourself" He glanced sideways at her and she quickly turned away his gaze. Was she still afraid? Or had she hurt herself and he hadn't noticed?

"Okay." Kushina answered in a way that was far too quietly for his liking.

"_Do_ you hurt? Did you hurt yourself?" He blinked and was quickly in front of her, pushing her head back so her gaze met his. He hadn't thought of that, maybe she'd already hurt herself when she climbed down. She was staring at him with _those_ eyes again, and there _was_ a touch of green in the blue, she was just inches away, it made him freeze.

"I…" She was going red, and vaguely he noticed that his cheeks were warm too. Minato stepped back and she stared away, embarrassed, and shook her head. "No."

"Good… I'll be outside." Minato was quickly out the door again to lean against the wall. He'd _seen_ people behave like this before. His friends did this with some girls. They'd teased him for being such a cold fish. If they saw him behaving like this… but it wasn't that sort of feeling, he was sure. It was because he didn't like to see her afraid or sad.

'_She's so small,'_ he thought, '_she's just like a child. But_,' another voice taunted, _'She's not a child.'_

He made a low 'uuurggh' noise and pushed both voices out of his head.

Kushina felt a lot more confidant when she finally found herself in a pair of black pants again. She hesitated with the dress though, and decided that wasting it was wrong… she could always use it as a top. It was tight enough and it wouldn't get in her way if she shortened it.

She missed her clan's symbol though. Kushina felt the upper arm for where it was supposed to be and was saddened by its absence. It might not have meant anything in Konoha, and she may barely have had any memories of the family there, but it was symbolic of something. Her past, maybe? Or everything she'd endured to follow her family's tradition of shinobi?

The thought of her past made Kushina's heart twist painfully, and before she could stop it, the faces of those she'd known and seen die came back to torment her. How could she go eat, how could she even think of eating, when they were lying dead somewhere? Broken, bloody, forgotten, lost… Her face was wet all of a sudden, tears were falling all of a sudden, Kushina couldn't remember feeling the need to cry. But she _wasn't_ crying, she was too numb to do that, it was just tears.

But she couldn't get that sight out of her head, couldn't get the guilt out of her heart, and she hated herself for the weakness that this proved. War meant death, and she had to get over it. She had to. Shinobi saw it all the time. But how could she eat? Their bodies had barely cooled, and she was already hungry? Kushina felt sick and grabbed onto the bed.

"Kushina-san? You've been a lo… Kushina-san?" Minato froze in the door, and stared at the girl. Tears were streaming down her face and she was grasping onto the bed as if she would fall without it. Annd her eyes… they seemed to be clouded with something. "Did you hurt yourself?"

She shook her head.

"Then what?" She just shook her head again and he suddenly felt helpless and frustrated. Minato barely knew the girl. He didn't know what to do, how to behave, and he'd only offered food. This felt like something too far beyond his understanding. Jutsus, he understood. Shinobi, he understood. Making ninja run in fear, he was very good at that. Making fun of his friends for their girl-smitten ways, Minato was an expert. But this wasn't at all nice. "Did you eat too much?"

"Sorry." She was muttering, wiping furiously at her eyes, "It's just that the clothes had dirt in them. I got dirt in my eyes. I don't think I'm hungry anyway."

He_ wanted_ to believe it, girls' crying wasn't something he knew how to fix but dirt in eyes was, and so he did believe it. Minato even went so far as to pick up a glass of water and hurry over to her "I'll go and tell the medic-nin off later when I see him for giving you dirty clothes. Here…" Minato moved close and pushed it into her hands. Even if she wasn't hungry, he decided that he didn't want to leave her like this; she was alone in this room. "Here's some water to wash it out then. And then you have to come meet my friends, even if you aren't hungry, you can't stay in this room all day. Choza will love that you don't feel hungry so much that he'll probably propose. He's probably your age. Just don't call him fat."

He was relieved when she smiled and glanced up at him, so relieved that he almost dropped the glass. And the dark look in her eyes vanished when her eyes met his. Minato swallowed and realized how close he was again; close enough to see the way the tears clung to her eyelashes, the way her hand shook under his, the way her hair fell into one of her blue eyes. He forgot the glass, letting go with the intention to brush the hair out of her face.

SMASH.

They both jumped backwards guiltily away from each other, and Minato knocked the table behind him. Another loud SMASH filled the room as the water jug joined the smashed glass on the floor.

"What was that? Minato-sama, I thought I forbid you from going in there." A voice called from outside, sounding annoyed. Tsunade. She had caught him sneaking in yesterday. Minato feared her strength more than he did anything else, something he'd gotten off his sensei, but it was a feeling any sane man should have.

And he felt reckless all of a sudden, with her he was just a child and if he didn't escape, he'd be scolded in front of the girl. Time to escape! He grabbed at her hand and, with a laugh, he was pulling her out the window and hiding against the wall of the building, holding onto Kushina with one arm, the other guesting for her to shush.

"Shhh." He whispered, glancing down at her to see if she was angry and he was delighted to see that her eyes had lit up with the thrill of it.

"Hello?" That was Tsunade again, in the room and he knew she'd come to the window. "Minato-_chan_? Kushina-san?" If she knew the girl's name, then she had to know he was there too. That medic nin must have told her.

Minato picked up Kushina -it could hardly be called strenuous if he did the work- and laughing he leaped off the roof and out of sight just as Tsunade came to the window. He really wasn't in the mood to face her wraith or clean the glass up… and he loved that huge smile that was now plastered all over Kushina's face, it encouraged him so much more to do it.

"We escaped." He put her down on the street and tried to ignore the way people stared at the two of them.

"Yes, we did." She laughed and wiped the tears away with her sleeve, feeling stupid, blocking away the memories. "What did we escape from?"

"Tsunade-sensei. Come on, before she follows." He felt like escaping the stares, those looks on their faces, and was quickly off down the street.

"Your sensei…?" Kushina fell into step beside him.

"No, mine's… well, maybe you'll meet him some other time." Minato grinned sideways at her and quickly slowed down so that she wasn't leaping from leg to leg just to keep up with him. He really didn't want to tell her about Jiraiya-sensei. "He's …he's unique."

"Ah."

"What about your sensei?" As soon as he'd asked, he regretted it. That drawn dark look was back in her face the moment he'd finished and all the light went out of her eyes. Desperately he continued, "Mine's a pervert."

"A what?" She blinked several times, not convinced she'd heard him right. That distracted her from thoughts of her own sensei.

"Not just a pervert. A super-pervert." Minato was relieved that it worked as he'd hoped- she was relaxing again. "Spies on the hotspring baths, writes perverted books, doesn't even lie about it. He's been trying to train me for years."

She laughed and poked Minato in the side. "Has it worked? Do you spy on the hot springs with him, dutiful student that you are?"

"Of course not!" He went a bit red and didn't look at her. She poked him in the side, and he added, "I mean… he's tried to convince me, takes me along, but I usually end up flashing to another place and doing my own thing. He thinks I don't like females now."

"Don't you?".

Minato glanced sideways at her. Why was she asking _that_? "I…suppose, I do. But not like that… I wouldn't spy on a girl in the hot springs. But anyway," He laughed, embarrassed, and rubbed at his head, "I won't make my students do that, they learn things that aren't useless."

"You have students?" Kushina paused in mid-step, a little confused. He looked like he was just a bit older than her. "But how old are you …can you have students when you're that young in Konoha?"

"I'm seventeen." Minato stopped, and almost defensively, "I'm a Jounin, you know. I _can_ have them now. The Hokage himself requested it."

She stared up at him, remembering her fear of his name, the stories of what he could do, how skilled he was, and Kushina felt a bit embarrassed that she'd even bothered to ask if that was okay. _Of course_ it was okay. "I forgot you were the Yellow Flash…" She said, embarrassed, trying to laugh it away. But his face tensed at the name and Kushina added, "I shouldn't have questioned it. I'm sorry."

He shrugged and started to walk again. Minato had no idea why he was annoyed that she'd brought up his alias again, annoyed that he was annoyed about it, annoyed at her for even bothering to think about it.

"Hey!" Kushina blinked, and hurried after him again, he was doing his 'speed walk' as if he was trying to escape her. "Hey, Minato-san, wait! I'm sorry! You'd make a great sensei."

And now he felt annoyed that she was apologizing. Minato slowed down and waited for her to catch up. How could he explain it to her, that he hated it when she called him that, and that he hated it when she thought of him as the 'Great Ninja!' and not as Minato? "I wasn't angry," He muttered, and forced a smile. "I just felt hungry and wanted to hurry. It's just a few streets away now."

"You're a terrible liar." Kushina felt terrible now. And, she noticed with a sinking heart, they were probably gennin like her. What the hell was she doing, spending the afternoon beside such a high ranking ninja? "What are they like? Your students?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"I can stop if you'd like."

"No…" He shook his head, light blue eyes meeting her darker ones. "No, I don't mind. They're a pain sometimes. I forgot how easy the genin missions were, and it's annoying sometimes to have to supervise them as they pick vegetables or babysit. But all three have talent. One, especially, he just hasn't seemed to realize it yet. And the other boy can't seem to relax, even for a second. The girl isn't a very good fighter, but she wants to be a medic-nin and I think she'd do well at it.."

Kushina smiled a bit at his face as he spoke about them. Even if it was 'annoying', he clearly had some pride in them already and it showed in his face when he spoke about them.

"We're here." Minato stopped.

She could smell it, and to Kushina's embarrassment, her stomach gave a mighty rumble to announce that it too had noticed. "Maybe… maybe I am a bit hungry."

Minato felt glad that her appetite had returned- he wanted to feed her till she wasn't quite so bony anymore. "Have whatever you like. I'll buy it." He followed her into the restaurant.

* * *

AN- I had to spend a while thinking about just how old he was. o.o I always assumed he was in his twenties or thirties, but now that I think about it, he was probably close to the age as the parents of Naruto's friends. Ninjas must breed early for fear of early death? It just means he was talented right from a young age just like how Sasuke's brother was. 


	3. Chapter 3

He'd sat there patiently for two hours while she ate. And ate. And ate. Minato could barely eat anything, watching Kushina do that. He'd wondered if her legs had been hollowed out or something. Where had it all gone? She'd leaned back and he could see where it'd gone, her stomach had become round and potbelly shaped. Somehow the potbelly look wasn't a very attractive look, not when the rest of her looked like she was made from twigs.

And then she'd been too full to walk properly.

_And then_ they'd had to walk down the street slowly, as people stared at him and the girl he was with. That was bad. Rumours would start to fly around. He'd never like rumours, there'd already been several that he was in a relationship with one of his team, with his sensei of all people, that he wasn't a complete male…

Minato had an idea who had started the last one.

They reached his building and he paused near the side of the building, where he glanced down at her. "Wait here."

"Why?" She crossed her arms and stared at him, taken aback by this new order.

They stood outside one of the buildings.

Minato was embarrassed all of a sudden. Imagine the look on his friend's faces if he was caught with her in his bedroom? And if he tried to explain, how would he explain why he had her forehead protector in there? _And_, even more frightening than the idea of his friends, what if the older shinobi found out?

"Just… stay here."

"…Okay."

"I'll be quick." Minato lifted his hands to perform his jutsu and he was immediately transported to his room. The flash of silver on black proved it was still sitting there where he'd left it, the shiny metal reflecting the dim light that was coming through the curtain. It was too shiny. He wished he hadn't cleaned it now. But nothing Minato could do about that, so he hurried back down via the staircase and handed it to her. "See? Quick as a flash."

She smiled a bit and slipped the forehead protector in her pocket without looking at it. Kushina knew that one glance at the symbol and she'd almost loose control of herself again. "Where to now?"

As much as her eating habits had worried him, Minato suddenly wished she were hungry still so he could have an excuse to keep taking her around. "I suppose… the hospital."

Kushina nodded, but she too felt disappointed. "Okay."

The two started down the street again. This time, both seemed to walk slowly without excuse of overeating, as if they were both trying to delay her going back in. After five minutes, Kushina noticed a group of children trailing them. Some of them were pointing at the two walking down the street; others were too shy to stare at them for longer than a second. She was a bit confused and suddenly felt a bit shy herself. "There are kids following. Are they staring because I'm not from here?"

"No. They're used to refugees by now." Minato's voice was soft when he spoke so that only Ku- could hear him. When he glanced back as well, all of the kids scattered into the bushes, under clotheslines, against fences, trying to 'hide'. There was a foot here, a leg there, a lot of giggles and 'shhh!'. He pretended to see right through them all. "Are you sure there were kids following? I don't see anyone."

Kushina giggled then and Minato's head whipped around to stare at her with barely hidden delight. He'd made people laugh before, but _this_ was different. She'd been sad all day, hadn't even laughed when he 'escaped' from the hospital, so to get her to laugh with this silly game...

'I'm going to make you laugh more.' He thought as he watched her. She was mimicking his 'I don't see any children act' like she'd done this game all her life, her eyes were laughing too, her cheeks flushed, and her mouth twitching with more suppressed giggles when one of the kids dashed across to a bigger bush while they were 'hidden'. It made her look healthier and less like she was a walking skeleton with a potbelly.

The kids, who had found that they'd hidden too well and he seemed to think they weren't there at all now, gave up hiding and swarmed around the older shinobi. Questions were pelted at him from all sides and he tried his best to answer.

"I want to see the flash!" One was jumping on his arm.

"I'll show you tomorrow."

"Can I become your student too?"

"I..."

"Why aren't you fighting?"

"Bec..."

"How do you throw those things again?" One of the kids held up a sharp kunai.

Minato snatched that away quickly, "How did you get a real on..."

"Is this your girlfriend?"

Kushina and Minato both went a bit red and avoided each other's eyes at that question.

"She's no..."

"Oh good." The boy who'd asked that question was straight away on Kushina's arm. "She can be mine then."

"Um." Minato continued to avoid Kushina's face and she did the same. They were both relieved when the teacher appeared at that moment to round the students up again. Soon the two were alone in the street again. "Sorry about them."

"I liked them." Kushina watched them go, her face still smiling and still a little red. It was nice to see kids act like kids again.

"Good, because it looks like you have a boyfriend." He prodded Kushina in the side.

"Jealous? I got a boyfriend."

"Now you just need to look more like a girl." Minato looked her up and down and added, "You know, dresses."

"But if I did that, I'd provoke your perverted shinobi training and I couldn't walk around with you anymore." Kushina was feeling more and more playful now and poked her tongue out at him. Although she did feel a bit self-conscious that he'd looked her over like that. Maybe she should wear dresses...

"In that case, we better cut all that hair off to give you a boy's haircut." Minato seemed to forget that he'd only known her a day, that they were in the middle of the street. He was too amazed that he'd found a playful side and far too happy to play with this new side. He pinned her to the ground, sat on her laughing, and pretended to pull out a kunai and held up a strand of her long red hair. They were both laughing.

"Murder, abuse, terrible attack going on, save me! Leave the innocent hair alone! Bully!" She was yelling and wriggling half-heartedly and he pretended to be overwhelmed by the strength of those half-hearted wiggles, falling so that he had a hand on either side of her head. Kushina gazed up at him and went still. Minato suddenly became aware of just how close they were. She seemed to notice it too, because she'd stopped trying to push him off.

Someone else pushed him off, hard, and he went flying a few metres to the side. Kushina blinked several times and leaned up to see a blonde woman standing over him glaring.

"Ts...Tsunade-sempai." He stared up at the woman sheepishly and was rewarded with another hard hit in the stomach.

"Idiot, stealing a patient, could have opened her wounds again with that childish behaviour, and what were you doing to her in the middle of the street anyway?"

"Um."

"I could hear her shouting from three streets away." Tsunade left him lying there and helped Kushina up to her feet. "Did any of your wounds open?"

"No."

"Good, then come on." Tsunade grabbed onto Kushina and started her down the street.

Minato was on his feet then and quickly after the other two ignoring the searing pain in his stomach. That was why he ran when he angered Tsunade- you ran and found a lot of chocolates, or you ended up in pain for several days.

"We've found you a place to live, Kushina-chan." Tsunade glanced back at Minato and briefly entertained the idea of loosing him, so that he wouldn't know where the girl lived. But he'd just find her again.

"A place to live?"

"We've got a building for refugees to live in till they know what to do. You're injured still," Tsunade glanced back at Mianto, glaring at him again, "So please feel welcome to stay as long as you feel you need to. It's not a large apartment. One room, we've found you a small fridge and the room has a small stove. We'd like you to take a job somewhere to help out Konoha a little bit."

"Okay."

"And while you're allowed to use our training facilities, you're not permitted to leave the village by yourself. If you choose to leave, we'll have to take you. We need to keep the village hidden, after all. There'll also be shinobi trailing you at any moment, so don't be alarmed if you find yourself followed."

"She's not a spy." Minato knew these were standard things for refugee shionbi, he'd been one of the ones to agree that it was a good idea... but he couldn't help being annoyed at the procedure when it came to Kushina. "I'll watch her."

"No."

"I can..."

"Hokage wouldn't allow it. I'd make sure of that. And your life is busy, Minato-chan, you have a team, your duties as Jounin, the war..." Tsunade glanced at the two younger shinobi and added, "And we need an unbias opinion on her."

"But..."

Kushina was embarrassed that they around her as if she wasn't there and dropped behind them a few feet. It was darkening. The sun had dropped behind the cliff and one by one houses and shops along the streets and up higher turned on or lit lights inside. It was warm tonight as well. The warm air was heavy with the fragrance of lilac and jasmine from bushes and climbing vines. And there was also the smell of food again. Evening meals being prepared? If she hadn't known better, Kushina would have almost thought she hadn't eaten for days- that smell was starting to make her hungry again.

She was so distracted by this thought that she ran right into Minato, who caught her before she fell backwards. There was a second again when they stared at each other, forgetting whatever it had been on their minds in the first place, then both jumped backed off from the other.

"Shoo, Minato-_chan_." Tsunade was somewhat amused by his face. She wasn't a stranger to those sorts of feelings, after all, she'd been dating her own shinobi for a few months now. And Tsunade wasn't sure when she'd see his face turn such a flattering shade of red. Resisting the urge to tell him that his new skin tone matched his hair she added, "Hokage sent for you."

That got his attention, Kushina noticed, he suddenly stood up more and his expression changed to an alert seriousness. He sounded a bit annoyed too when he said, "So why didn't you tell me when you saw me?" Minato quickly brought up his hands up to make a seal. He was gone in a second.

"There's the old Minato." Tsunade muttered lowly and then smiled at Kushina. "Let's go."

They went up several staircases. Kushina was sure that this building wasn't taken care of too much. There was mould on the floorboards, some seemed to sink, and there was a broken railing at one point. but as dead as the building itself looked, the occupants in it were clearly very alive. Kids, adults shouting, running feet, her 'boyfriend' in the Academy passed by and gave her a painful hug, there were a couple of elderly people sitting on one landing in armchairs, smoking and playing cards. Tsunade led Kushina past them and up another floor and down a small hall to a door labelled 3-5.

The room was just as bad as the staircase. No, maybe worse, because this room smelt musty and had old dead air as if people hadn't opened the windows for years. Kushina was glad it was a warm evening, she had to open the windows or else she'd rather sleep on the roof.

"Clothes off."

"What?!"

"Seeing as you're my patient, I'll be coming in daily to change the bandages and check on you." Tsunade was already tugging bandages out of a pocket as she spoke and stepped over to put them on the dusty table. "Till you've healed. Then we'll assign a mentor to you who'll give you a job."

Kushina pulled off her clothes as she tried to listen but everyime she tried, Minato's laughing face drifted into her mind. And the way Tsunade seemed to like teasing him. "Why don't you like us spending time together?"

Tsunade blinked. "I don't mind it at all. But he has to do his duty too and..." She hesitated at that. She was going to say '...and feelings like this often distract people...' but she wasn't completely sure that it was like that between them. Or if it was, that they were even aware of it yet. So she tried a little white lie, "...and sometimes he has trouble remembering to do that when he's having a good time with a friend. Or when he's worried about someone, like he was with you."

"He was worried about me?"

"From the second he found you were alive."

"He found me?"

"Yes. And insisted on carrying you part way to Konoha."

Kushina went quiet and fiddled with the hem of the top that she hadn't let go of. She was trying to remember what it was about him, apart from his reputation, which had made him so frightening that morning.

"I haven't seen him relax like that for a few years now." Tsunade was almost talking to herself then as she recalled the look on his face when he'd been teasing the girl. She smiled at the younger girl as she finished wrapping the last bandage. "Minako-kun looked happy. If you remember to remind him once in a while that he's got to do other things too, I think we'd all be happy if you spent time with him in his free time."

"He wasn't happy before?"

"He was _happy_. But he was tense. Snapped a lot. The more stressed he got, the louder he got, and if you can relax him... well, please do it. Some of us were getting desperate enough to pay you." Tsunade laughed and patted Kushina's head. Then she went over to wrap up the soiled bandages. "Don't worry about it too much."

"I'm the opposite."

"Hmm?"

"When I'm relaxed, I get louder."

"Oh, that's a relief." Tsunade glanced back at Kushina, sounding a little amused.

"A relief?"

"If you have a child together your child should be just about in the middle. Not loud in any situation." Tsunade paused, and then added as an afterthought, "Or it'll be loud all the time."

Kushina went red everywhere this time. Or she felt it. Ears, cheeks, forehead, chin, nose, neck, arms, legs, there was heat going everywhere. "A...a child? We're not... we do..."

"I know. Relax, Kushina-san, I know." Tsunade went to the door. "Okay. I have others to see. There's food's in the fridge. Water, in tap, clothes, you'll have to wait a day or two for extra. Anything else? No? Goodnight then."

Kushina flopped down in a seat when Tsunade left and tried to cool her face down with a glass that was sitting nearby. Soon she was yawning and went to open the windows. The drowsiness she'd felt after the meal was returning and without bothering to undress, even though it wasn't late, Kushina curled up under the covers and tried to sleep.

* * *

AN- Not as long this chapter, but I've been in the background planning it out. :D Thankyou for the reviews. 


	4. Chapter 4

Kushina woke often during that first night in the strange room. Nightmares plagued her constantly- both the bad memories that she'd suppressed all day, of the war, of when she'd attended funerals for loved ones, family and clan members, friends, older shinobi, the faces of those she'd helped to kill or injure and the faces of those who'd been killed beside her. But the bad memories weren't the only ones that haunted her. There were the ones of good times too, and they were just as painful to relive as the bad ones, they brought on a horrible homesickness too. That was also something she'd pretended not to feel, and had pretended so well that she'd convinced herself all day of it.

When she did manage to fall into a dreamless sleep, there were other things distracting her. The light, which she'd left on because she'd always been afraid of the dark in strange places, kept flickering and going out. The neighbours on her left were loud and full of energy that lasted well into the night and other neighbours were loud in voicing their displeasure at those in the left room. There were the sounds of scratching, squeaks, scuttling and bangs as rats that sounded as large as cats went about their business in the walls and ceiling. The tap dripped. And the final straw came when a cockroach as large as her little finger dived onto her face from the ceiling. Although Kushina wasn't squeamish about bugs she wasn't too keen on a shower of raining insects either.

Sighing, she flung her legs out of the creaky bed and wandered over to sit next to the open window.

Across the village, Minato was also having trouble sleeping and wasn't sure why. He'd been tossing and turning for hours in the bed, the sheets fell, twisted, knotted, tangled, and in the end he'd eventually thrown them to one side in frustration. He stared out the window in the direction of the refugee's building. Maybe she was scared in a strange place? Or maybe she was hungry again. He had a lot of spare food he could give her, if only he could tell if she was hungry.

But it wasn't just Kushina that was on his mind. The Hokage had told him something that disturbed him a little bit. Apparently, Kakashi was skilled enough to go into the Chunin exams in six months time. He was still five and would only have turned six by mere days when those exams came around. And if he was to try for the exams, Obito and Rin had to be ready too. Although Minato had extremely high levels of pride for the three and knew that all three were exceptionally talented for their age, Kakashi the most talented of the three, he didn't particularly like the idea of 'encouraging' Obito and Rin to take the exams. How could _he_ like the idea when he was the one chiefly responsible for their training and safety?

When he was Hokage, Minato though as he squeezed his eyes shut, he'd try to extend the minimum age to graduate the Academy to nine or ten.

Restlessly, he got out of bed and went to stand at the window. It was dark out. The sky was dotted with stars and the moon hadn't risen above the cliff yet, although he could see a glow from above the cliff top where it would soon appear. There were only a few lights here and there now, the Hokage's office, streetlamps, some shops, some buildings, the hospital, but everything else was quiet and asleep. The refugee building, Minato noticed, was one of the few buildings with a few lights on.

Was she awake in one of those rooms? Maybe Kushina was hungry and bored. Would it be wrong of him to go make sure, and to take some food too? He could leave it there for her to find if she'd fallen asleep That might make her feel better… she could be alone, feeling scared or something bad. Not many people would see Minato go- most people were asleep by now or busy working.

And Minato really didn't want to think about Kakashi, Obito and Rin.

The room was a little cold now. Kushina decided that as it'd lost that smell she could shut the windows. Once she'd pulled them in, she sat down at the table and stared blankly at her hands. She was a bit hungry but she couldn't be bothered cooking, She had no pencil and paper to draw or write with, Kushina didn't like sewing and didn't want to mend the clothes that were lent to her, and what she used to do with her spare time, training, wasn't something she could just go outside and do. It was a strange country, they were strange training grounds, and besides… whenever she thought of picking up a weapon or training her ninjtsu she felt physically ill. So Kushina sat there and stared at her hands.

…Just what did people _do_ with their time when they couldn't train?

RAP RAP

She jumped and stared at the window. Kushina wasn't sure she really could believe what she was seeing. Minato was perched precariously on the windowsill, rapping on the window with one hand and holding onto something with the other.

"Kushina-san! Hey, hurry up and open the window." He called through the class, and clutched to the edge of the window as he waited. Minato had already scared a few people, been knocked to the ground by one person, and was relieved to find her room finally. He was even more relieved when he found her awake.

She yanked the window open and grabbed at him, pulling him in.

"Idiot, what are you doing at this time of the night?"

"Morning, actually." Minato pulled his backpack off and held it out. "I bring food."

"Why is it that whenever you try to spend time with me, you bring food?" Kushina complained… but took it.

"You're too thin." Minato replied automatically, but his attention was now on her room. And just how… how… dirty it was!

"I thought men liked thin." She tugged out some packages and put them on the table. Kushina stared at the bread rolls, instant miso soup, and a sorry looking turnip… how _kind_ of him.

"Why do all girls think we like them thin enough to snap?" Minato waited till she opened her mouth again and shoved a bread roll into Kushina's mouth. He shrugged and resisted going on to tell her that she'd look more attractive if she had more weight. Minato had seen other girls being told the same thing and they never seemed to believe it. Not from their friends, not from their boyfriends, not even their husbands could convince them that it was true. "Shut up and eat."

Kushina pulled it out. "You're rude."

"Hmph." Minato wasn't at all offended by that and sat down on the table to tear into a bread roll.

Kushina sat back down beside him and started to shred the roll into small pieces. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"Why aren't you?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Neither could I."

She glanced sideways at Minato. Kushina was tempted to ask why; he hadn't seemed like the type to be worried by things. But she'd only known him a day, even if it felt longer, and it probably wasn't Kushina's place to ask him private questions like that.

"What is it?" He glanced up at her and met her eyes.

"I… nothing. I've only known you a day."

Minato realised that maybe she was uncomfortable with him being there and quickly stood. "Oh… if you like, I can go?"

"No!" Kushina grabbed onto his sleeve and tugged him back down. "No. Don't go. It's boring here without company."

"I won't go then." He smiled.

And then his face paled, his eyes widened, and he let out a loud girly scream. Minato stood again, backed up, almost fell over the chair and pressed himself against the wall in horror.

"Minato?" She almost fell off her chair in shock.

"Co…coc…cockroach." He stuttered, pointing. There was a cockroach walking along the table. Kushina wondered if it was the same one that'd rained down before.

"So?"

"Get rid of it!"

She stared at him with one eyebrow raised. This was Konoha's Yellow Flash, this man, with all the blood drained out of his face, who screamed at the sight of a large cockroach?

"Um."

"Kushina, hurry!"

Kushina noticed that he didn't use the –san at the end, it thrilled her somewhat and quickly she picked it up in her fingers. Kushina held it up in his direction. "You want me to get rid of this?"

"Urgh, yes! Get it out of here!" He recoiled from it.

"What, this?" Kushina took a few steps further. She laughed when he grabbed a kunai out of his pack and held it up. "You don't want this in here?"

"Yes!"

"But it's just a sad little cockroach who wants a hug, are you suuuure?" She stepped closer.

"I'll kill you if you don't throw that thing out the window" He twisted away and found her arms wrapping around his neck from behind with the cockroach held just a few inches away from his vest. .

"Hug it! Or it goes down the top."

"No!" Minato hit at it and sent the cockroach flying behind the bed. He grabbed at her arms and held onto them, tightly, almost lifting her off the ground, and backed up to the bed, letting his taller body fall backwards on top of her so that she was pinned underneath him. He twisted over and grinned down at her. "I told you I'd kill you."

"Umph. Minato-kun, don't take out your silly fears on a helpless girl." She prodded his forehead.

The door flew open. Several men and women stood there, weapons in hand, and stared at the two teenagers on the bed. It was clear that they'd thought the scream was Kushina's, because they immediately yanked Minato off her. But they looked confused… she wasn't at all upset, he wasn't upset, they looked almost happy…

"Are you all right?"

"Huh? Yes, of course!" She glanced at Minato and after a moment of amusing herself with the idea of telling them that he was afraid of cockroaches, she added, "I saw a cockroach."

They let go of Minato. Minato flopped into a chair and smiled at her and she smiled back.

"What's he doing here?" One of the older men glanced in Minato's direction. Two teenagers… alone in a room… it wasn't hard to see what he was getting at.

Kushina flushed a bit and shrugged.

"We couldn't sleep." Minato replied, straight away, "She just moved in yesterday. First night. I was keeping her company till she fell asleep."

"On top of her."

"…Well, we tripped." Kushina's flush had spread again. Why was it that whenever this idiot was around her, she ended up blushing, flushing or feeling embarrassed every ten minutes?!

The older adults clearly didn't believe it. Two shinobi, trained since children to NOT be clumsy, tripping on each other? But one of the women yawned. "Leave them alone. We were teenagers too, and Tsunade-Hime said that she wanted to deal with any problems… we'll leave them to her."

"Wait, no!" Minato stood up quickly, and his obvious dislike of the older shinobi getting involved made the others relax too.

"So we shall. Goodnight, kids, and nothing below the belt."

"Wait!" The group was already going and shutting the door. Minato collapsed into the chair and smiled sheepishly at Kushina who was still lying on the bed. "Sorry."

"I know your secret though."

"Secret?"

"Cockroaches." Kushina laughed when the word made him shudder. "Everyone's afraid of something."

"I need a secret of yours then." Minato was embarrassed and wished he could find that cockroach again. If he could just … beat it in combat… then he'd prove he wasn't afraid of it. No one had figured out that phobia, and he wished it'd stayed like that.

"Why?"

"It's not fair if I entrust you with my secret and you hold back your own."

She yawned and leaned back. Kushina was sleepy again, and feeling somewhat better about this room now. "I won't tell you. You have to guess."

"Tired?" Minato shifted his chair till he was sitting next to the bed. "Come on, Kushina-san, you know mine."

"You'd laugh." Kushina leaned up on one arm as he came closer as if she was anticipating another attack.

He copied her, "Everyone's afraid of something."

"I'm afraid of the dark if I'm alone."

"Really?"

"Mmhm. I don't sleep without a light."

"What was that like when you were on missions?" Minato was genuinely surprised by that confession, shinobi _had_ to be comfortable in the dark. It was often vital to their ability to hide.

"We never did missions on our own, so it was never a problem." Kushina shrugged a bit and added, "And they never found out."

"Who did find out?"

"You."

"Well… then we're even. I never let anyone see my fear of insects either."

"Oh, so it's not just cockroaches!" Kushina laughed softly, but it wasn't an unkind one. It was hard to tease him when he knew her fear as well.

"No. Small insects I can ignore, but if they're large… or if they approach me…" Minato prodded at her leg and added, "So I can easily ignore you, little insect."

"Who are you calling little?" She kicked out lightly at his hand and found her leg caught easily.

"You're little, Kushina-san, I could pick you up and carry you around on my shoulder."

"Being little is good. Everyone underestimates us. Till we bite. I'd bite you now but I can't be bothered." She was yawning again and he noticed how her cheeks were red without any sort of embarrassment. Was that what her face did when she was tired? His mother's face used to do that.

"You're going to bed." Minato stood up and moved over to pull a blanket over Kushina.

"I am in bed."

"You're going to sleep."

"I can't sleep."

"Why not?"

"…Just can't." Kushina hesitated and decided against saying 'nightmares'. It sounded too dramatic.

"Nightmares?" He wasn't fooled. Kushina wasn't the first to have nightmares after seeing that sort of thing in the war; even the most seasoned shinobi had them.

"Maybe."

When she avoided his eyes, he knew that it had to be them. Minato sat back down. "Should I wait till you fall asleep?"

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Nevermind." Minato felt embarrassed all over again, embarrassed and a bit put off by that 'Huh' response. He stood up, feeling a bit idiotic, when she was sitting up and grabbing at his jacket.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Stay till I fall asleep." She wanted to throw a cockroach at him for making her say it out loud. Kushina thought that the 'Okay' was clear enough, without having to make her say that out loud.

"Okay." Minato sat down _again_ and after a few seconds of agonizing 'should I or shouldn't I?', he took one of her hands. It was small, he noticed, and the fingers were long and slender. The hand was perfect for hand seals, and he knew it'd injured, perhaps killed even, but it was hard to picture.

"What is it?"

"I like your hands."

"Yours are rough. Did you ever try oil on them to stop the dryness?" He made a face at her and she laughed. Then she added, sleepily, "I didn't know you a day ago."

"Yes you did, Kushina-san, you seemed to know my name from the second I met you."

"I knew of Konoha's Yellow Flash. You're not Konoha's Yellow Flash at the moment, Minato-kun, but maybe I'll meet him too when you take me training. I didn't know Minato-kun a day ago." She murmured, her eyes shutting, and added, "I'm glad I met you, Minato-kun."

Somehow, that statement made his entire day, and even made up for the way she'd drained his savings on dinner earlier on. Minato was always 'Konoha's Yellow Flash', 'Minato-sama' or 'Minato-sensei' to everyone, all day, every day, in missions, off missions, as team leaders, even amongst his childhood friends… and as good as it was to be respected, somehow it was even better to be seen as _Minato_ first. He answered quietly, "I'm glad to meet you too, Kushina-san."

Soon she was asleep, and Minato felt tired all of a sudden. He lay on the ground next to her bed, cockroaches or no cockroaches, and fell asleep lying there, still holding Kushina's hand.

* * *

Tsunade stormed down the hallway, ready to give the idiot hell for visiting a girl's room in the middle of the night. She pushed the door open, took a breath and… 

"Awww."

They were both asleep, still holding hands, Minato on the ground and Kushina on the edge of her bed. Both looked exhausted. Tsunade knew that there wasn't any way she could break it up at that moment, and sighing, she backed off and shut the door again.

"I must be getting soft." She muttered and shaking her head, she retreated back to the hospital.

* * *

"You're going?" Kushina dropped the chopsticks and stared at Minato. He nodded and she could barely hide the disappointment. But of _course_ he had duties. She'd been by his side almost every hour for the past two days, and hadn't once thought that perhaps he had other things to do. He hadn't said anything till now. "How long?" 

"One week, maybe two. Can't tell you the details." He stared out the window. Minato wasn't upset that he had a mission… but he was afraid that she'd be upset. If she was upset, then he didn't know how he could do it. "I'm so…"

"Don't say sorry, Minato-kun," Kushina interrupted loudly before he could say the entire word, "I understand."

Minato's eyes met hers and he was relieved to see that she really did understand. "Do you… do you know what you'll do? Are you going back with that other whirlpool shinobi?" He didn't intend on asking the question now, Minato had wanted to wait till after the meal, but he wanted to know. One of the other refugees was returning to the Hidden Whirlpool Village in the next day or two, and if she went with him… Minato wouldn't be around to say goodbye. But he hadn't wanted to say anything that'd put pressure on her.

She dropped her gaze to the food in front of her and shrugged helplessly. "I…"

"Don't worry about it."

"But…"

"If you want to go, then go."

Kushina didn't answer that and went back to stirring the rice with a chopstick. She didn't _know_ if she wanted to stay or go. Going back meant finding out who lived and who died, and finding out how bad a state the village was in, it meant going back to the starving village and the sick and injured… and it also meant that she'd loose Minato's friendly presence. Two weeks without him because of a mission, it sounded like she'd be bored and a bit lonely but he'd come back. But if she left for the village, she wasn't sure if she'd see him for months, years, maybe never. It was stupid, she thought, to get so attached to a person so quickly.

But this wasn't her village. And Kushina was supposed to be back in her village. It probably still needed protection.

"But I'll miss you if you go." He added almost so quietly that she didn't hear it. Kushina stared at him, Minato was red faced, he looked flustered and embarrassed and he was staring fixedly at a stain on the wooden table.

"I haven't decided yet."

"If you're still here, I'll help you train." Minato glanced up at her when he was sure his face had cooled enough and he tried to smile. "I still haven't seen your shinobi technique. What area do you specialize in?"

It wasn't often that they discussed things like this. Kushina felt a bit shy about talking about it, no matter what she specialized in, it was nothing compared to his 'technique'. "Um. Ninjutsu, mostly."

"I can't wait to see it then. What rank are you? Chunin? Jonin?"

Kushina eyes darted away from his and now it was her turn to stare at the stain on the table. "Um."

"Kushina-san?"

"Um."

"I won't laugh."

"Okay, okay, fine. I'm still geninin." She glared at him when he laughed and added, "We didn't have time to go to the Chunin exams. I wanted to take them next time but then we got discovered and there wasn't time to train, then I got hurt, and I've been lazy…"

"Idiot, Kushina. Of course you can take them next time. And I'll be there." Minato seemed to light up with this information. Even if she did leave, he'd see her in a few months.

"Really? But you're a Jonin…"

Minato glanced around and shifted over to her side. The room was loud and no one was paying attention to the two who were hidden in the corner. He murmured, "My team are entering," as he picked up his chopsticks again.

"How old are they?" Kushina was surprised at this.

"No information for you, little insect, you'll be their rival." Minato glanced sideways and smiled at her. "But don't underestimate them."

Kushina was staring at his expression. The smile was proud but also a bit sad. She wanted to question him further, but she guessed that he'd have told her more if he could.

"Minato?"

"Yes, little insect?"

"Don't call me that. And… do you know anything about my country?" She hesitated when she saw his face tense, but added, "I know that you'll only tell me things that you're allowed to and I don't want you to tell me anything else. But…"

"I'm sorry, Kushina-san. I haven't heard a thing. But I think we still have shinobi there."

"But not you."

He shook his head and Kushina stared down at her food. That meant either that it was safe, that they didn't need the most skilled, or … or it was too late.

"I don't want to go back yet."

"Kushina-san?"

"Not yet. I want to wait a month."

Minato's face lit up and he grabbed her, tugging her over for a bone crashing hug. He could barely hold himself in. Six months till he saw her… he could handle that. But he preferred two weeks, and somehow the idea of coming back and seeing Kushina's face was beyond good. Beyond great! "I'll see you when I get back?"

"If you don't, I'll stalk you down and stick a cockroach in everything you eat, wear and sleep in." She replied, not pulling away from his embrace. But it didn't stop the tense feeling she had in her chest. The forehead protector, still in her pocket, suddenly felt heavy and hot like it was burning her. And suddenly, Kushina wished she still had her clan's symbol. What had happened to her clothes with it? He'd found her, maybe he'd know. "Minato-kun… what happened to my clothes?"

Minato moved away and stared at her. Had she gone mad? "You're still wearing them."

"No! My clothes, the oens I was wearing when you found me."

"You know I found you?" She nodded and he quickly diverted her gaze. "It's probably still there somewhere. Why?"

"I had my clan's symbol," She unconsciously reached up to touch her upper left arm as she spoke, "and I miss it. But nevermind."

"What did it look like?"

"It was a spiral. Like on your uniform but blue, symbolizing the whirlpools. And it had a whistle hanging off it."

"A whistle?"

She smiled, a bit sadly and nodded. "Well… we do tend to have whirlpools in and around the mouth of bay. It was a good defence."

"So we were warned when your village called for our help. But how did it work?"

"Our clan was known for not being afraid of whirlpools. But when someone fell overboard or got caught in a current, even if we weren't afraid, we knew that exhaustion would be our enemy in the end. So it started as a rule to have it so that they could be pulled out in time. Then eventually… eventually, it became apart of the symbol, till it didn't matter if we were on the water or on land, it was apart of our heritage. The clan that wasn't afraid of the sea, that specialized in water Jutsu, and who were the ones you found living on boats in the bay of in homes like other clans. Imagine it… an entire clan, just out there, floating. It was nice, you could change neighbours, never tied to one spot in the water, and …" Kushina hadn't meant to say so much and was barely aware she had. Once she'd started explaining, it was hard to stop, and she moved the rice in circles as she spoke. It had gone cold by now. "…And it just feels strange to not have it on."

He was listening as she spoke, and he could hear a strange loneliness in her voice. Minato didn't let go of her but loosened his hug so that it was gentler. "Maybe they brought it back. I'll ask."

"It's okay."

"No, I'll ask. When I return."

"When do you leave?"

Minato shrugged helplessly. "I can't tell you the exact time. I want to... but, you understand."

She nodded and glanced sideways up at him. "I understand."

Minato wasn't sure why he did what he did next. She was so close, and all of a sudden he was bending in and brushing his lips against hers gently, timidly, afraid that she'd pull away. But she didn't and he felt a thrill of delight when her lips pressed back softly. When he pulled back, intending on apologizing, the words got caught in his throat. She didn't look at all upset.

"I... um."

"Um."

Minato stared at her and reached up with a hand to brush the red hair out of her eyes. Vaguely he again wondered why he'd thought she was a he. Those eyes…

"Um."

Now what? Minato was almost willing to go back in for another try but he resisted. Instead, he pulled way gently and stood up. He couldn't… "I should go meet with my team."

"Minato-kun?" She blinked at him, confused. He'd just kissed her, hadn't he? Maybe it was an accident. Maybe she'd kissed him when he'd just…fallen. Or something. Maybe he was running out of embarrassment.

"They haven't seen me for a few days."

"Oh." She felt guilty about that. It was her fault that he hadn't been with them.

"But I'll visit you tonight if I can."

"Okay."

"Here. If you need more food." He pushed money into her hand and was gone before she could blink.

* * *

A.N.: I keep getting 'Whirlpool Country' and 'Waterfall Country' muddled. But it IS the Whirlpool country that she came from. 

Thankyou for your reviews, they make me very happy!


	5. Chapter 5

Minato didn't visit that night. He'd been too ashamed to go see her. Once he'd left her in the tiny restaurant, and spent a few hours with his team before he had to leave for his mission, Minato had suddenly realized what he'd done. She had been feeling vulnerable and sad, she'd been thinking about her home, and Minato had just kissed her when she needed comfort. No wonder why she'd kissed back!

He'd sat at home and stared at the refugee's building all night instead, too afraid to face her again and too disgusted with himself that _he'd_ be afraid. Facing her now was worse than cockroaches. It was worse than everyone, besides her, finding out that he hated large insects.

Minato followed his team as they left Konoha but his mind was far away. With Kushina, in her apartment, wondering if she'd slept. Did she think he was like that? That he went around, kissing girls and flirting with them, only to run off and find a new girl to play with? Minato hoped not. That was his first kiss, not including kisses from his family, and he'd liked it. It was soft, and her breath had been warm on his face, her lips were soft and damp, and he'd been able to smell her skin and hair while they were so close. He could almost still feel the ghost of the kiss on his lips.

But if_that_ wasn't bad enough, she was still fourteen. It was true that he was only seventeen, and that was only three years, but it was like _ten_ years to Minato. People treated him like he was ten years older- after all he _was_ a Jonin. They treated her like a fourteen-year-old because she was a _genin_. He'd been sneaking into her room at night, bribing her with food when she clearly had hollow legs or was starving or _something_, taking up her time when she could have been meeting friends her own age…

The more he thought about all of these things the more Minato felt like a dirty old pervert. And _how_ long had it been since they'd met?

When Minato almost jumped head first into a low branch, which would have knocked him out cold, he decided to worry about it later.

* * *

Kushina wasn't happy. She stood a safe distance from the gates, arms crossed, feeling angry and defensive about the treatment she'd just gotten. When she'd gone to the gates, intending on chasing down Minato and hitting him, the shinobi on duty had gently led her away from the doors and told her that because she was a refugee, their orders were to keep her in the village at all times till they were told otherwise, so that they could protect the hidden village's location. She wasn't allowed to leave without permission. Permission? What was she, a kid?! And when she'd said 'I need to go chase down Minato-kun and hit him', they'd _laughed_ at her. Laughed!

Kushina turned and went back into the village. Kushina would have gladly hit them but was aware of how dangerous that could have been. The only person she'd get away with doing that to was Minato. He wasn't here. _'His own fault then,'_ She thought as she went down the street, _'If my urge to hit him builds over the time he's gone.'_

But as the next few days past, the anger turned into sadness and confusion. Kushina could barely sleep at night, and when she did, those same nightmares plagued her. She knew it was probably because she didn't think about the memories during the day, because she refused to go back and find out what had happened… but Kushina wasn't ready.

Tsunade continued to check on her injuries once a day, and would ask her if she slept, but Kushina lied loudly and with as much vigour as she could manage. Hadn't she said to Tsunade 'I'm loud when I'm relaxed!' or something along those lines? Kushina could also be loud if she was stressed and intent on appearing relaxed.

Tsunade had obviously not believed her. She'd given her sleeping pills, which Kushina had not taken, and when she'd turned up the next day, Kushina was wearier and more stressed. She kept falling asleep when she sat down only to jerk awake minutes later. Tsunade then decided that because Kushina was so keen on not sleeping, she'd be a great worker at a bakery. She could wear herself out by working hard, earn some money, and sleep like a normal… baker. Kushina found herself with a job from 1am to 1pm, preparing bread. It wasn't exactly fun. They worked, and worked, and worked, making dough, kneading dough, rising dough, kneading dough, mixing more dough, kneading more dough, rising more, cooking it, watching the oven's temperature, mixing icing, mixing more dough, and mixing even more dough…

And then, when enough bread was finally cooked for that day, they had to prepare it further. Icing, or some special topping, or they'd dust it with flour, and then after that was done and the sun was finally rising over the cliff… Kushina had to stand there with a 'I've just woken up!' smile, greet customers, and remember that this bread was this type, and that bread was that type, and she better not forget and give the customer the wrong type of bread. Oh, and she must never eat the bread. If she was hungry, there was a lot of yesterday's bread.

When the long shift was over and she was given several loves of her own bread that she'd made, Kushina had wobbled home and collapsed in her bed. It really had worn her down and she was amazed to find that the sun had already set hours beforehand. She was also disgusted with herself to find that her arms were sore and weary from all the kneading. Shinobi with weak arms Kushina had been _far too_ slack if she could get sore arms from making bread.

Kushina got used to the routine after several days and so did her arms. And it wasn't always bad, when the woman in charge of the bakery was sure that Kushina didn't need much instruction anymore, she would joke around and they'd stand there talking, singing or making a lot of noise as they toiled over the bread. Kushina had asked about the neighbours once, and the woman had laughed. If neighbours didn't like her methods of keeping awake as she made _their_ bread, they'd get no bread. And there wasn't any other baker in Konoha.

Through the shop work and selling bread, Kushina also found herself making friends with others in the village. Apparently someone had let on to the other Konoha shinobi around Kushina's age that she was working in the bakery. When they found out she was a Whirlpool Shinobi and a refugee on her own, they'd waited till she got off work and had dragged her along with them. Kushina found herself being led around as they went to meet other friends, or they'd take her training. When she got bored of watching them train, she started to help them by holding things, then she started to help them by throwing things, then by casting Jutsu that they had to deflect… little by little, Kushina found herself wanting to train for her own benefit for the first time since she'd collapsed. Although she continued to avoid her clan's Jutsu, she started to practice all the others. It was a relief, somehow, and the kunai felt more familiar to her hand than a wooden spoon did.

But even with these things happening, and even with her being completely exhausted at the end of each day, somehow the hours dragged by. Kushina felt a longing for his company, his 'You're still able to eat?!' expression at every meal, and she'd wake up at night when she thought she'd heard a tapping. Her new friends had noticed that she'd get a wistful look on her face and had teased her about a boyfriend. Kushina wasn't sure if she should deny it or not, _did_ you automatically get a boyfriend if he kissed you?, so she denied it every time.

He'd said 'one week, maybe two'. It was the fifteenth day since he'd left when the refugees on her right were 'evicted'. Kushina had never heard her neighbours, never seen or met them and they were amazingly good avoiding anything that brought attention to them.

She'd nearly jumped out of her skin when the quiet of the night was shattered with smashing and a moment later, an explosion that Kushina could see come several metres out the side of the building. Kushina was quickly standing and pressing against the wall on the left of the room, hand automatically reaching for her weapons pack, and felt some panic when she found it wasn't there. The sounds of fighting and the glimpse of an ANBU jumping in through her neighbour's window was enough to convince her to take shelter under her bed. Knowing that shinobi bystanders, even with a wall between them, had to either get away from the fight or get involved, Kushina was quick to slip under the bed frame and wait for the fighting to stop.

There were feet in the hall, and the fighting seemed to move in that direction, and then quickly back into the room. Kushina had guessed that ANBU would probably have their own waiting outside the hall and was apparently right. There was the bang of a door flung open, then it was slammed shut again and another explosion shook the building.

"Everyone'd be awake by now." Kushina muttered, and tugged her legs closer to her chest. It'd be ironic if Minato decided to visit her _now_ of all times.

She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be surprised or not when he did appear a minute later, completely out of no where, and Kushina wondered if he'd hid a seal in her room to get here so quickly. She found some satisfaction in Minato's expression when another explosion sent him flying onto the ground with plates, her shattering window and part of the ceiling. _That_ was better than hitting him.

"Kushina-san?" He yelled over the din and scrambled to his feet, hands grabbing for his weapons pack. Welcome home to Konoha, please be ready to go into a new fight?

Kushina grabbed at his feet, knocking him over again, and pulled him feet first under the bed. "You're late."

"What's go…" He was drowned out when a body thumped against the wall and knocked six or seven planks right over into Kushina's room. Both he and the planks fell on her table and shattered it. Minato grabbed at Kushina and pulled her over, kunai in front of them both, as ANBU scrambled to his feet and brought his hands up for a seal, jumping back through the hole as he did. "…going on?"

"Fifteen days late."

"Kushina-san…"

She shrugged helplessly, and although he didn't see her movement, he felt it and gave up asking.

Three explosions sent Kushina's wall flying against the room, caved in the roof and knocked down part of her other wall. Three men jumped over the debris in her room and out the window before she could see what was happening. ANBU came through the wall and from the hall, knocking the door down, and were out the window following.

"Eviction." She said, when the noise had finally died down and the room had stopped trying to cave in further. "ANBU style."

Minato almost laughed. "I see. Are you hurt?"

"Of course I am!"

His face froze and he was quickly throwing the bed off them both, just so he could see her face, her body, so he could find any wounds. Minato couldn't see any blood at all and she looked healthy. "But I don't see…"

She glared at him. Although they were standing in her ruined room, although all of her worldy possessions had just been destroyed and her clothing burnt, crushed or ripped, there was only one thing that bothered her. "You didn't come see me."

"…oh." Minato went red then, and tried to help her to her feet. "Sorry."

"Do you always kiss a girl then run?" Kushina took a few steps away from him, almost tripping over the debris.

Minato's mind was racing. There was a 'we're too different, our ages are too different, our ranks are too different speech', he'd memorized it, but what the hell was it again?!

"Well… I suppose I've done that each time I kiss someone."

That wasn't it. He'd had the start, 'Kushina-san, I'd been thinking…' but when he'd opened his mouth…

Kushina blinked. She hadn't expected that answer. "…You what?"

"Kiss and run. Of course, I've only kissed once, so…" That wasn't the start of the speech either. Minato scratched his cheek, embarrassed, trying to stare away from her face and at the ruined room

"What?" Kushina's glare softened and she was staring at him with those wide eyes, those horrible, _terrible_, overwhelming eyes.

"So it won't be hard for me to change that habit…?" Argh, _that_ wasn't it either! Minato had spent the past two weeks trying to figure out how to start the speech, and he'd even had the speech memorized. He couldn't remember a word of it now, despite having repeated it over and over for the past fifteen days and three hours.

"Kushina-chan!" A woman was standing at the door, her expression worried. "Kushina-Chan, we heard the explosions… are you hurt?"

Kushina's face had softened, he'd noticed, and he wished that the woman would just go away. Minato stared at her, now she wasn't looking at him, and was pleased to see in the light of the hall that Kushina had gained weight. Her face was rounder and less gaunt and her arms seemed to have thickened. "Kushina-san, you've gained weight!"

"_Huh_!" Kushina's head whipped back around again. What the hell, he'd just said something sweet, and then he went around and insulted her?

Minato stepped back and almost tripped. Was she really from Konoha? Her eyes, that had been so beautiful and intoxicating before, was suddenly blazing at him with barely hidden fury. He cringed. "Um… but… um. You _have_ gained weight."

"Honestly, young men these days." The woman was taking Kushina's hand and leading her out of the room. "No manners."

"But…" He watched both go, feeling a little helpless. No, he couldn't watch them go. Minato had waited two weeks to see her, even if he had wanted to break their friendship up, he wasn't going to let some older woman drag her away! Minato was over there and pulling her back into the room. She stared, bemused, as he picked up the collapsed door and slammed it into place again in the older woman's face. When he wasn't satisfied that the older woman wouldn't hear him, he picked up Kushina and jumped up onto the roof instead.

"Minato, what are you doing?"

"You look really good now!" Minato put Kushina down on the roof.

"Huh?"

"You've gained weight and you look really good now." The words were strung close together and he hated her for making him want to say them again… but when they were out Minato sighed in relief.

"You're such an idiot." She laughed then, laughed and the last few feelings of anger at Minato vanished. How could she be angry with him?

"What?!" Minato forgot he was stepping on the roof and that he was against the edge. He would have fallen off if she hadn't grabbed his vest and heaved him forwards.

"You're an idiot! You were trying to compliment me with an insult. Idiot!"

Minato smiled sheepishly down at her. That's right, he thought, 'gaining weight' is seen as a bad thing in the female world. "What about… your body has gotten better looking since I last saw you?"

"I bet you were taught that one by your pervert sensei." She'd gone bright red and was aware all of a sudden that she was still wearing her PJs.

"Oh! No! I…"

"Thanks." Kushina leaned up on her tiptoes and brushed his cheek with her lips. She was quickly away from him again and walking to the edge of the roof to stare down into her room. "I wonder where I'll live now?"

* * *

A.N.:I wish they'd stop trying to get crushes on each other so quickly, I was hoping it'd take longer! Bloody teenagers. But anyway, short update. ;D

And now that NaNoWriMo ( has started in Australia, updates will probably be shorter. But I'll try to keep them frequent.


	6. Chapter 6

"You look like you're a five years old who wants to throw a tantrum." Kushina commented wryly.

They sat on Kushina's bed in her new room, both taking it in. Not that there was much to take in, the room was tiny and almost lightless, the walls were dusky blue, the open windows were covered with thin tattered blue curtains and to make it all even more homely- a spectacular view of the stone cliff. This building had been built three feet away from the stone cliff, a long way away from the bakery and an even greater distance from the training grounds.

Minato ignored her and just stuck his legs out and was disgusted to find that he could 'stand' on the opposite wall by sitting on her bed. "If I were a five year old wanting to throw one, there wouldn't be any room for it. This is a painted broom closet. And..." Minato froze as a beetle came walking out from under the bed. It flew up into the air and flew out the open window. "...even bugs don't like it."

"I like it." Kushina yawned lazily, eyes still taking it in.

"Huh, you do?"

Kushina nodded. "It's dark so I can sleep all afternoon without the sunlight waking me. And when it rains, there'll be water falling down the cliffside. It's a nice room."

"Broom closet. But just what kind of job do you do at night?"

"Secret." She grinned and yawned again as she stretched.

She'd been doing this 'secret' answer everytime he asked and Minato wondered if it was a job she was ashamed of or embarrassed about. It kept her up for such a long time too, and he was still debating about if he should follow her or not. He turned his back on her and went to the window. "I can't even visit you in the night by walking up the side of the building, the cliff's only three feet away. How are you supposed to cook in here?"

"I think we've got a shared kitchen, I passed a kitchen in the hall. And a shared bathroom. Minato-kun, would you get that look off your face?"

He made a face at the stone. Now, Minato thought, people could walk in on her in the bathroom. And they could steal her food. He almost wished he could get her to move into his room in the shinobi building, she was little; he'd fit her in. It was true that it'd cause some problems- his latest 'I'll pretend she's my little sister' idea was put into risk everytime he came within three metres of her and he imagined that living in the same room wasn't a help either, and Minato could already hear his friend's jeers when they found out that he had a girl... but all of that was better than knowing she lived like this.

Minato sat down again on the bed and sighed. TO his horror she leant against his side and that 'sister' idea slipped a little further out of his grasp. Minato sat there for a minute, two minutes, and finally wrapped an arm around her. "I..." He trailed off when he looked down at Kushina. She'd fallen asleep and looked exhausted.

"I... think I'll tell you about the training with my team later." He muttered. Minato stood and tried to put her into bed without touching her too much. When that didn't work, apparently you needed to touch someone to lift them; he pretended that he was lifting a sack of potatoes. Minato quickly put her down as fast as he could, she was a potato sack that smelt good and was softer than the last time he'd carried her. Her skin wasn't caked with blood, like the last time he'd carried her, and was silky. How'd she get skin like this? And the muscle, Minato noticed as his hand trailed up from her hand, along her arm till it was over her upper arm, it was swollen. Or maybe it was just getting larger.

"Minato-kun. You're stroking my arm." Kushina opened one eye and stared at him, bemused.

Minato jumped back guilty, hand jerking away as if it'd been stroking hot coals, and he crashed into the far wall. Flakes of plaster from the ceiling rained down on his head. "Um."

"Felt nice." Kushina added, sleepily, and shut her eyes again.

Minato felt for the door as he stepped sideways. It was a broom closet; he thought desperately, how far away could the door be? "I...are you awake?"

"Mmm."

"The next few months, till the exams, I'll need to spend more time with my team. I might not see you for days on end..." He hesitated, wondering if she was annoyed with him. "Um... so, um... sorry...?"

"Idiot." Her sleepy eyes were open again and she was staring at him from where she lay under the blankets. He was mad, did he think she didn't understand? "Make sure you only see me when they're so worn out that they need to sleep for days or I'll throw you off the cliff myself."

Minato froze to stare at her with all 'treat her like a sister' ideas falling out of his head and onto the floor at his feet. She'd said what he wanted to hear, she understood, she was biting her lip, and her eyes had that look again and... and... Minato was kneeling on the bed beside her, lips pressing into hers again, hands pulling her head up so that he could get better access to her lips.

Kushina stared at him with wide eyes, stunned, it took her a few seconds to kiss him back. And then she felt his hand move down, along her neck, her shoulder, her arm, he was holding onto her hand and pressing it back beside her head, and she was melting under him, melting and shocks were going through her body, through her limbs, she tingled...

They both broke apart to breathe, their lips swollen, hair ruffled, his headband had fallen off at some point and Kushina stared at his face, unable to understand what she'd done to make that happen. "Minato-kun?"

Minato flushed and smiled sheepishly down at her. Sister? What a stupid idea. "I...um. How would you like to go on a date?"

"A date? Now? Going out there?"

"Y...yeah."

"What a stupid idea."

Minato felt a bit crushed at that, and let go of her hand. He went to stand up.

Kushina grabbed his vest and pulled him down again. "No... no... I mean, it's ... we don't need to go out there to date. All we need is food... and we don't need to go out there." She wanted him to kiss her again like that. Kushina didn't want to go out there, he wouldn't do that again out there.

"Food! Okay!" Minato was already making hand gestures and was gone in a small explosion of smoke.

She lay back on the bed and touched her lips. And... and... had he ... was that his tongue? Kushina went red at the thought, had he really tried to... and her body... had it really felt... but it had to have felt it, because didn't she still feel it...? This was too much. "Urrggh." Kushina pulled the pillow over her own head and tried to smother it all out.

* * *

Minato was standing in the middle of his room where he'd landed, staring vaguely at the wall, his fingers on his lips as well. Now that he was so far from her, she was right across the village, he was wondering just what on earth had possessed him to do that. 

The door banged open and Minato turned slowly, dazed, a silly grin on his face and still touching his swollen lips. It took a few moments for his sluggish mind to recognize his sensei. "Jiraiya-sensei?"

Jiraiya wasn't an idiot. Not when it came to that look. When Tsunade had mentioned off hand 'And it looks like Minato-kun is growing up a little...', he'd rushed as fast as he could to a bookseller, and then straight here. Minato hadn't been here. But that didn't stop Jiraiya from placing well meaning spies, Minato's friends, on the job of watching out for him.

And by the looks of things, Tsunade was right. Jiraiya pulled out a bag of erotic novels he'd bought specially for this occasion with a wide grin. "It's time, Minato."

"Time?" Minato wasn't even looking at the things he'd been given, he was putting them aside carelessly and searching through his fridge for food he was sure she'd like.

"To teach you all you need to know." Jiraiya slammed the fridge shut and blocked Minato's way. "Now isn't the time for eating."

"Ahh, but I've got to train..."

"She's waiting?"

"What the hell is that look?" Minato was feeling defensive now, defensive and annoyed. "I said I had to train!"

"So there IS a girlfriend! What's she like?"

"As if I'd tell you!" Minato knew that was a childish reply, but he was annoyed at the idea that now, when he was supposed to be hurrying back, he had been found out by Jiraiya of all people in the village who could have found out about Kushina.

"The villagers had been talking about you behaving like a teenager but I didn't believe it. So I had to ask Tsunade."

"What?!" Minato's voice almost cracked then and he went bright red. The villagers had been talking?

"So what does she look like? Hmmm?" Jiraiya laughed and almost leered as he continued, "Is she curvy? Is she thin? Feminine? Is she tall, short, big here..." He made a gesture that made Minato go bright red.

Minato turned away from Jiraiya then, deciding it was a better idea to find food in another area of the room other than the fridge. Which was currently behind Jiraiya. But Jiraiya was already in front of him, holding up one a page that seemed to be all about naked women... "Does she look like this woman, or this one?"

"No!"

"Then this one?" Jiraiya had flipped the page and a woman took up the entire two pages. And, Minato noticed as blood rushed into his face, she probably did look like Kushina naked. Images of Kushina's body rushed into Minato's head before he could stop them, he'd already accidentally seen some, and he'd somehow successfully blocked them out till now.

Oh god.

"I'm not telling you anything." He hit the book to the ground.

"Oh, has she rejected you although you've kissed her?"

"How do you know that I've kissed her? Can't you go... spy on the hot springs and leave me alone?"

"You've kissed her, it's all over your face. And lips."

That was about all Minato could stand and he was making hand seals to escape, without food, as fast as he could. When he appeared in Kushina's new room, he almost fell over with relief to see her.

Kushina had been standing at the window, trying to get some cool air on her. She was surprised that he was back so quickly, even more surprised that he'd 'flashed' into this room too and knew something was strange by the way he looked. "Minato-kun? Is something wrong?"

The door was flung open. Jiraiya-sensei came into the tiny room and it suddenly felt to Minato like it was even more claustrophobic than before. Jiraiya was blocking the only exit. "This is your woman!"

"Um..." Kushina stared from Minato's embarrassed face to Jiraiya's one, a little lost for words. "Is that..."

"Jiraiya-sensei."

"The pervert!" Kushina laughed and held out her hand for the older man to shake. "He told me all about you."

"The pervert? Just what have you told this beautiful woman?"

"Nothing. You've met her, you can leave now." Minato tried to push him out of the doorway. Kushina blocked the window exit, Jiraiya blocked the door, and Minato was feeling the urge to crawl under the bed.

"I haven't seen you before, are you from Konoha?"

"No."

"A refugee?"

Kushina nodded.

Jiraiya knew not to say anymore, and decided on a safer topic than 'what happened?' "Then you've got to visit Konoha's hot springs! They're famous."

"Don't try the hot springs." Minato snapped.

"I always wondered about them..." Kushina smiled somewhat. Hot springs... that'd make her aching arms feel better.

"And he never took you?

"Of course I didn't take her."

"Not once."

"But you must visit! I'll take you right now. And after, I'll tell you about Minato as a boy."

"Jiraiya-sensei! Kushina! She was hungry. Aren't you hungry?" Minato was now standing between Jiraiya and Kushina, as if he was hoping to block them from talking.

"Um."

"We can share a meal on the way home, the three of us."

Minato turned his back on Jiraiya to look down at Kushina. He was suddenly feeling annoyed and a bit jealous, he didn't like the idea of anyone, male or female, seeing her naked. And Jiraiya would peek. He'd see her. Even if he only saw a bit, he'd see her. "Kushina... he'll see you if you go..."

She was so confused, and a bit embarrassed too. "Don't they have separate male and female areas?"

"Of course they do!" Jiraiya had pushed Minato aside; he fell onto the bed, and watched helplessly as Jiraiya took Kushina's hand. "Come. It's not far."

"I really would like to see the hot springs." Kushina had hesitated and was staring back at Minato. He knew she was asking him if it was all right.

"Well... Don't peek at her." He sighed.

"All right! Off to the hot springs."

* * *

Minato sat there stiffly in the hot water, not enjoying it at all. He was watching Jiraiya suspiciously, sure that the man was up to something. There was that leer again. 

"Now that you're a man... or nearly a man..." Jiraiya was saying as he stared at the barrier between the male and female springs, "I think you need to learn a new Jutsu."

"Is now the time?"

"Oh yes. It is definatly the time."

"What is it?"

Jiraiya demonstrated and Minato, still suspicous, copied.

And then he found himself able to see beyond the barrier. Kushina...

"What the hell?" Minato shut his eyes and tried to hit Jiraiya at the same time.

"Works through any barrier. Good, isn't it."

"Minato-kun?" That was Kushina's voice, calling, and he went redder. "Is something wrong?"

"N...no! I..."

"You have good taste." That was Jiraiya.

"Can you meet me outside?" Minato called, as he continued to wave an arm in the assumed direction of Jiraiya, his eyes shut tightly.

"Something is wrong. What's wrong?"

"Please?"

"Okay." He heard the sound of her standing and leaving and then opened his eyes, face flaming red, and hit Jiraiya. "What did you teach me that for?"

* * *

They sat at a table together, a meal spread out for them. Minato refused to look at Kushina and hidden half his face in his hand. Kushina was trying to enjoy the stories she was being told, but she kept glancing at him and he kept ignoring her. 

The Jutsu wasn't in effect anymore. But Minato's memory was fully intact and was doing a good enough job on its own. Her small waist and small hips, the way her arms and legs were tanned but the rest of her body was pale and delicate looking, the barely healed wounds that marred her body, her small breasts and the nipples that were only a few shades da...

When he did glance at her by accident, he jumped as if he'd been burned and had quickly looked away again. Not just the body, but her eyes, her face, her hair, and the way she'd felt when he'd pinned her down and kissed her... He banged his head on the table. Forget! Forget! Forget!

"Sake?" Jiraiya offered a small cup and Mianto swallowed the burning alcohol in one swallow, ignoring the way it burnt his throat and brought tears to his eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

"He got shy in the hot springs." Jiraiya laughed. "Saw a naked body and got shy."

"I didn't get shy." Minato went red.

"Don't be shy."

"I didn't get shy!" Minato had snapped and he could see out of the corner of his eye that she cringed. If only she knew... "I mean... nevermind."

There was sake nearby, he noticed, and had another cup. It wasn't that he hadn't known she was female, he'd known, but she wore boy's clothes and never really acted in a girlish manner. It was a bit of a shock to find a female's body under there.

"He never used to be shy, was always smiling, quick to learn, most talented shinobi I've met. And he has good taste in women too, it seems. Learnt it all from myself. "

"That's my problem. I learnt it from you." Minato could still remember the way to cast the Jutsu. He wished desperately that it would vanish from his mind.

"How old are you, Kushina-chan?"

"Fourteen. I think."

'You think?" Minato's head snapped up to stare at her.

"I think I was supposed to have a birthday but I'm not even sure what the date is." Kushina shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"It's July. Third of July." Jiraiya said.

"Oh. I suppose I'm fifteen then."

"When was your birthday?"

"Two and a half weeks ago. June the twelfth."

Minato stared at her. How could she be so calm? So when he found her… that was a few days from her birthday? Forgetting his earlier flustered state over her body, he stared at her. "You could have said something."

"Doesn't matter. But at least you're looking at me again."

That brought back the memories again and he stared at her. The top was so shapeless, made for a man several sizes larger than her, but he could picture her body now. And…

She shifted, uncomfortable under that expression, and looked to Jiraiya for conversation. But he seemed to have a similar expression to Minato. Minato's expression made her restless and self-conscious, but Jiraiya 's just irritated her. They both made her feel naked.

"I… think I'll go sleep. I have to go to work late tonight."

"Work?"

"It's a secret." Minato muttered.

"Y…yes." Kushina stood up and smiled shyly at Minato. "I'll…I suppose I'll see you when you can see me?" He nodded dumbly and she went home, still feeling that nagging self-conscious feeling his expression gave her.

* * *

A.N: Just to make it clear, he's about two and a half years older. XD

And Minato would like to voice his displeasure at the writer letting Jiraiya interrupt their makeout session/date.

I did say something about NaNoWriMo, right? Shesh. Now I'll go do_that _like a good girl. Someoen tell them to leave me alone while I write something different!


	7. Chapter 7

A week after the hot springs he'd finally decided to give his genin a rest from training. He'd had a mission of his own, a personal one, and had hoped that he'd pull it off without Kushina finding him out. But instead, he'd found her out.

Minato had been standing on the spot for almost half an hour, hidden, staring in through a window at Kushina. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, and had no idea how he was supposed to react. When she'd said 'Secret, secret, secret' over and over and refused to tell him about her job, Minato had much more romantic and exciting secret jobs than assisting a baker.

Minato hadn't come here to spy on her. He'd come to the bakers to order a birthday cake for her, being unable to think of anything else to give her. What did females like? Female shinobi? Did they want weapons? Explosive tags? Or did they want teddy bears and ribbons? Both? A deadly teddy bear that you could conceal an explosive tag within? Birthday cake was far easier, far tastier, and Minato _knew_ she liked food. But if she was the assistant, he couldn't get it secretly. There had been another gift he'd found for her as well, it was sitting in the pocket under his vest now, and it was something he knew she'd want. But he'd gotten it before he knew it was her birthday. It didn't count.

The shop cleared of customers for a few minutes, and he could see her properly now as she leaned against the counter, reading a magazine. Even if this wasn't the exciting job he'd hoped she had, even if he hadn't found out she'd joined the ANBU secretly and was working for Konoha, Minato was mesmerized by the way she looked in the shop. Kushina had been dressed in a simple white and blue apron, her red hair tied back from her face, flour on her cheek and hair, and her face had a little sleepy smile on it It was obvious that she'd been working all night.

He wondered if people bought extra bread just to make her feel like her work hadn't gone to waste. Minato was having the urge to go in there, disguised, and to buy as much as he could afford to make her smile more. He'd even opened the door to the bakery and had taken a few steps in. When she smiled at him, a smile that was unfamiliar to Minato, he'd stumbled backwards and was out the door again. He_couldn't_ buy all the bread, then she'd have to make more.

He was also secretly pleased that she had a different smile for other people.

And the apron, Minato noticed as he stood there on the other side of the street, that girly apron clung to her so that even her baggy boy's clothes couldn't hide the fact that it was a girl, and not just a feminine boy.

"How long are you going to stand there?"

Minato jumped and stared guilty at Tsunade.

"She almost looks female like that, doesn't she?" Tsunade was smiling. He just nodded. "I heard that Jiraiya taught you a Jutsu…"

Minato stumbled back a few steps, hurriedly interrupting her before she could go further, "…Before you tell me off, he didn't tell me what it did. I didn't mean to see her."

"Oh, so you did use it?" Her smile vanished and he cringed. "Who did you see?"

Minato's head was twisting back towards the shop before he could stop it with his eyes on Kushina.

"I see."

"I don't want to use that Jutsu ever again."

"No?"

"No."

"Well, that won't convince Tsunade."

Minato's head snapped around to look at Tsunade. What did she say? "Huh?"

"You need to lie when Tsunade approaches you." Tsunade wasn't looking at him. She was now holding out the hem of her own top, apparently engrossed by her own breasts.

"…Jiraiya-sensei?"

"If we're going to survive Tsunade, we're going to both have to keep this from her. _You_ need to learn how to lie. I thought I trained you to be more observant than this."

Jiraiya was certainly being observant, Minato thought wryly, and he hoped that Tsunade wouldn't hear about this. Or better yet… "I am observant. But not many people would be stupid enough to pretend to be her, if she or her boyfriend finds out that you made yourself into her.

Jiraiya's real body was quick to appear then and he glanced around for any sight of the blonde woman or her lover. Minato didn't want to face Jiraiya, and quickly took this chance to slip away.

* * *

"Legs quivering, eyes wide with anticipation, she opened her flower to his quivering big manhoo… What the fuck." Minato stared at the book with horror. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh or to scream. A few lines down and she was saying, "Take me. Take me here, under the Hokage's face. What the fuck." He didn't usually swear, Minato just hadn't been the type to do it regularly, but somehow swearing seemed the only response he could come up with to this. "Is this really how females behave? Is this really how _I'm_ supposed to behave?"

Minato flung the book at the wall and was satisfied to see he'd thrown it hard enough to leave a dent in the plaster. He wished that'd been Jiraiya's face.

One of the other books was graphic. Pictures covered every page, pictures, and expressions and he'd burnt that one as fast as he could. Minato knew about how sex was supposed to look and he didn't need a book to ruin it for him. Plus… he was disturbed by how the female's face seemed to change into Kushina's face if he blinked. Maybe she_was_ right; maybe he really _was_ an Apprentice Pervert.

He wasn't sure why he'd started looking at the books. Minato had meant to throw them out, but a book had opened, he'd read a few lines by accident and then he'd been curious. What a mistake. Minato hoped he'd never be curious again. And what kind of male would want two females? Three? Apparently it was normal to want many women, but Minato thought that keeping one was happy was hard enough. Adding a s_econd_ woman just complicated the entire sex thing.

And, he continued to think as he stared at the dirty carpet that covered his room, what kind of shinobi would fling kunai or other sharp weapons at a woman to rip her clothes? Did he have a spare set of clothing in his weapons pack for when they were done? Did he know medical jutsu in case he was an idiot? Did he know how to sew? Why didn't anyone question these books, why were they so popular?!

"Maybe I'm not normal." He muttered, and buried his warm cheeks in his cool hands, trying to cool down his face with them. As stupid as that last idea had seemed, he could picture Kushina's clothes ripped, her body peeking through, her face mimicking that girl in the graphic novel… "Idiot, idiot, idiot! Think about something else. Chunin exams."

What if, while she was in the fighting and survival part of the exams, someone else thought of flinging kunai at her clothing? When Minato couldn't help her? What if Minato did it, sneaking in, surpris… "Birthday surprise for her!"

That topic was just as bad on his mind as the other topics. No, Minato thought desperately, that topic was worse. Her face again, her face, and her body, dripping wet in the hot springs, and… and… he was loosing complete control over everything. Didn't someone once say a cold shower helped with this sort of…reaction?

"Minato-kun?"

Minato fell off his chair and climbed under the bed. "Who's that?"

"It's me, idiot, Kushina."

"Kushina? How did you find my room?" Minato had pressed up against the wall, staring at the door through the gap under the bed. Had he remembered to lock it?

"Jiraya-sama said you'd found me at the bakery. He told me where you lived."

Minato would murder him. Murder him with paper cuts, using the books from the pervert's very own erotic novel collection.

"Can I come in?"

"No!" He shouted straight away, wishing he hadn't been curious at all. Or that he'd thought to have that cold shower.

"You're angry at me, aren't you. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. It was a bit embarrassing."

Now she thought he was angry with her, Minato realized with horror, and banged his head on the floor. "No! I'm not angry. I… it's dirty in here. Dirt everywhere. The paint's peeling. There's… there's cockroaches. And it's dark. It smells."

"You do remember what my first room looked like, right?"

He winced. Hers was pretty much what he'd just described. Minato wondered if he'd unconsciously just recalled her room, he couldn't tell, and he wished his brain were working fast. Faster. Quicker. "Um"

"I brought some bread for us to share?" The doorknob was turning; the door was starting to open…

"Don't come in!"

The door paused and slowly shut again. Kushina stared at the door, a little hurt and a little confused. Was he angry? She couldn't see his face. But he sounded like he didn't want to see her. But they really had only known each other for a few weeks. Maybe he wasn't as good friends with her as she'd thought.

She hadn't really come over to share bread. Kushina had needed to ask him about that day he'd found her, to find out some things that she'd been too terrified to ask. Kushina wanted to know what the state of her country had been when he'd left. She'd been trying to push herself to ask the entire week he'd been back trying to work up the courage to approach him about it and she was sure that she'd manage it at that moment.

Kushina didn't feel up to it anymore. She wanted to go home and sleep. "Um. Okay."

She'd taken a long time to answer. Minato knew that was bad.

"I'll leave your loaf here. Um… bye…?"

Minato waited till her footsteps had gone and got up slowly, annoyed at himself, annoyed at Jirayia, annoyed at the person who decided that the Jonin pants should be loose and non-restrictive to any part of the anatomy, annoyed at everything that he could think of. Not only had he missed her birthday, he'd just hurt her feelings. She hadn't said he had but Minato could guess. If she had been angry with him, she would have stormed in and hit him. He wished she were angry._Anything_ was better than hurt. But…

He rushed to the window, snatching up his wallet on the way and leaned out of it to look for her. There she was, coming out of the doors now. "Kushina-san!"

She stopped and stared up at him. Minato cringed at the look in her face, she _was_ smiling, but it was stretched and unnatural looking. Like she was forcing it there.

"Here…" Minato threw the wallet at her. "Can I meet you at that restaurant in… half an hour?"

"Um. Okay?" Kushina caught the heavy frog wallet and watched him vanish from the window again. She continued to smile in her forced way, but she was confused now and she wasn't sure what she was feeling. _Was_ he angry with her? Was he _really_ embarrassed about his bedroom, and if so, why was he embarrassed? She wanted to find out what on earth was in that room.

Minato collapsed against the wall in relief and then pulled out a kunai. He'd destroy the books. Destroy them and feed them to Jiraiya-sensei.

* * *

Kushina sat at the table, chewing slowly on food, watching the door to his building as she ate. Had it been half an hour yet? Or was it only five minutes? Kushina couldn't tell. She was a bit hurt by his behaviour, and it hadn't just been today. He'd snapped at her after the hot springs as well. In fact, she thought as she aimlessly moved the food around, he'd been acting weird ever since his sensei had shown up. Not looking at her, not speaking to her, he hadn't tried to make her laugh for ages. Kushina had decided last week that she'd forget his behaviour and had been excited about seeing him. When she'd found out he was back from training for the day Kushina had arranged with Nyoko, the baker, to leave an hour early.

"All alone? I thought I told you how to find Minato."

She jumped and glanced up. Jiraiya-sensei stood there, puzzled, his gaze alternating from her to Minato's window. "Oh… I didn't notice you. I'm sorry. Yes, I am. Minato-kun said he'd be out here soon."

"I'm very good at stealth."

"…Yes, so Minato-kun would tell me." Kushina's own face smiled when he beamed at what she'd just said. Spying on naked women, wasn't that how Minato had put it? "Would you like to sit?"

"So why isn't Minato-kun out yet?" Jiraiya sat down across from her, adjusting his clothing so that he could fit.

"Wouldn't let me in the room."

"Is that so? Did he say why?"

Kushina shook her head helplessly. "Something about his room being dirty? He was very… insistent… that I wait here."

"Insistent?"

"Jumpy is a better way to describe it. Is something wrong with him?"

"Hmm." Jiraiya looked thoughtful. She could tell that he knew something she didn't. "Why do you ask?"

"Well… he's just been very nervous, since the hot springs. It feels like he keeps getting angry at me. Always getting upset for reasons I can't figure out. I thought that after a week, he'd be okay but…" Kushina realized that she was talking about what she hadn't intended on talking about and added, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to tell you this."

"He needs more books." Jiraiya seemed to be talking to himself now, his gaze still on Minato's window.

"Huh?" What had that got to do with Minato?

"He doesn't seem to know anything about females. I'm ashamed to be his sensei all this time and to have such a appalling student." Jiraiya took a mouthful of her food and said thoughtfully, "I think I need to take him with me when he comes down."

"…Huh?" Kushina was still lost. "Take him?"

"On a mission. That's all I can tell you."

"Did you need to take him so quickly?" She asked, before she could hold it in. Kushina didn't want him to go so fast, even if he was behaving oddly.

"I'm afraid so, Kushina-chan. Is that his wallet?"

"Yes, he gave it to me."

"I'll take it for him." Jiraiya took it from Kushina and opened it. He looked pleased, and took out some of the money for her. Then he pocketed the wallet. "I'll give it to him on the road."

"Shouldn't he eat first?" She asked, hoping that she'd at least get a meal with Minato.

"Sorry, Kushina-chan, we need to hurry if we reach … a place… by nightfall." Jiraiya stood up. He'd seen Minato coming at a run, and so had Kushina.

"What are you doing here, Jiraiya-sensei?" Minato skidded to a stop and glanced from Kushina's neck, he still couldn't bring himself to make eye contact, to Jiraiya.

"We have a mission, Minato. Now. Urgent. Can't say more here." Jiraiya's face was serious now.

Minato tensed and nodded. "Can I meet you at the gate?"

"We have to be gone in ten minutes."

"Understood."

Once Jiraiya was gone, Minato turned to find Kushina, eyes still directed safely away from hers. But her neck was so slender, and it was just a few inches from… His head was fogging again. Minato turned away from her in a desperate attempt to not think about… well… anything. "Um."

"What is it?"

What was what? Minato vaguely remembered that he'd intended on doing something with Kushina. He turned a bit, eyes focusing on the table with her in the corner of his eye, and said to the food, "I… hello."

"Food can't talk."

"No, you! Hello!" He shifted his gaze a few inches in her direction and onto a chopstick.

"Minato-kun…"

"I… um."

Kushina was feeling that hurt again. She took a few steps away. "You've got a assignment."

"No, wait!" Minato could partly see her moving away, and clutched for her arm. Once he'd gotten it, his eyes slowly found her eyes, and he stared at her ears. They were nice ears. He could see her hair tucked behind one, the other one was partly hidden, and they were the perfect shape for an ear. "I…"

"Who are you looking at?"

"I like your ears."

"Huh?"

"I mean… I got you a present. It's not a birthday present. But when you said… um. It's here." Minato was pulling at the pocket in his vest, urgently, trying to get her present out. "I found this for you."

She stared at what he held in his trembling hand. It was her clan's symbol, the one she'd been wearing, cleaned and polished a bit but there was no doubt that it was hers. The silver whistle had her name engraved on it and there was still that tiny dent in the metal. "Where did you get that?"

"Found it at the remains of the camp."

"Minato-kun…" She hesitated then took it, staring down at it. For a moment, Kushina forgot his strange behaviour, her eyes staring at the thing in her hand. The small blue spiral, only half the size of her palm, reminded her of everything she'd tried so hard to block out. The salty air, the sounds of boats, her old team, and the boy who'd gone missing in the fight but had left his blood behind… What happened to them all? It was still attached to the sleeve, the sleeve that used to be attached to the clothing that her mother had made for her…

Without remembering how she got from standing to kneeling, Kushina was suddenly on the ground, panting hard, trying to remember how to breathe. The thing, she couldn't remember what it had been, wasn't there in her view anymore and the things she'd remembered had gone back into the safe forgotten place Kushina wanted them to be in. But she still felt her chest being crushed by something, something that crushed her heart and squeezed the air out of her lungs.

"Are you okay?" He was terrified by her reaction. Minato had expected 'thankyou', or 'You shouldn't have', but not for her to suddenly collapse on his floor and… and… what was she doing? He knelt on the floor beside her, pulling her over, trying to hug her. "Are you choking? What's wrong?"

"My chest hurts." She gasped, pale, clutching at it. "I can't breathe. Minato, I can't breathe!"

"Just breathe…" Minato was a shinobi. He was skilled at it, people feared him for it and even she'd feared him for it at some point… but he was not good with feeling helpless, he had never been a helpless kind of person. Now that he did feel helpless, he almost felt like he couldn't breathe himself. Maybe she'd been poisoned and he hadn't noticed. Poison in the food or in a needle.

She collapsed then, eyes rolling back, and he almost fainted himself from sheer fright. She was dying! He pulled her up into his arms and picked up the small clan symbol, and with both safely in his arms, Minato fled towards the hospital.

"Hyperventilating."

"What?"

"She was panicking. Did anything happen to bring it on?" Tsunade stared across at Minato suspiciously.

Panic? He had never thought that Tsunade was a bad medic-nin… but surely, surely she'd made a mistake and had missed it. Minato insisted, "No… no, Tsunade-sensei, she was _dying_. It has to be more than just panic, maybe it was poison? Check her again."

"She's not 'dying' now. Minato, wha …"

"Check her again. Maybe someone put a poisoned needle in her or slipped it into her food." His voice rose as he spoke.

Tsunade sighed and shut the curtains around the bed. She could hear him out the curtain, pacing up and down, and decided she wouldn't give him a hard time about this. Yet. He was good as a team leader, good as a shinobi, but he was absolutely pathetic when it came to anything that didn't involve shinobi-trained tasks. If these two ever _did_ breed then Tsunade would quit as Kushina's doctor.

She waited a few minutes, considering lying to him as she moved the bedclothes around, then adjusted them again. Even if she did lie to him, Tsuande still needed to talk to him about the panic.

"Tsunade?" He had almost shouted that time.

Tsunade sighed and opened the curtain. "No needles. No poison. She's asleep though, so can you keep your panic to a whisper? Sit down."

"Okay." Minato sat down.

"Are you sure that nothing happened? What happened just before?"

"I gave her a present." Minato answered. Tsunade raised an eyebrow, and he added, "This. See? It's not dangerous." He held out the clan symbol. Kushina had dropped it when she'd fallen.

"What is it?"

"Her clan's symbol."

"You gave her the clan's symbol, and she hyperventilated."

"Yes. No. No, she didn't panic, she was dying."

"Does she talk about them?"

"Who?"

It was like talking to a child, Tsunade thought desperately, and resisted the idea of hitting him across the head. "Her clan."

"Oh. Only spoke about them once. That's how I got the idea to give it back to her."

"Do you two talk about the Whirlpool country?"

He shook his head.

"Did you tell her about your last mission?"

Another shake of the head, and he stared at the ground. He hadn't wanted to think about that mission.

"So she doesn't know."

"No."

"She's probably terrified of finding out."

"That's why I never told her."

"She'll find out somehow."

"I know." Minato sighed and buried his hands in his head. "I know. But when I think about it, I can't do it."

Tsunade sighed and sat down in a seat beside him.

They both watched Kushina sleep for a minute or two, Tsuande's mind going over the problem, and finally she said, "She probably hasn't spoken to anyone about Whirlpool."

"No."

"And it's been almost three weeks. I haven't seen her cry once."

"I haven't either."

"She's seen a lot. And you make her smile, according to the villagers, they've been keeping me updated." Tsuande added quickly at the look on his face, "She's still my patient. I like to watch them all."

"That's a good thing though. Smiling is a good thing."

"It would be if she was sad in the first place. But she's _never_ sad. "

"Maybe when we're not watching…"

"Not even then. I thought that if she was worn out by working in the bakery, that she'd be too exhausted to pretend to be happy. But she doesn't pretend to be happy, she is happy. She convinced herself even. Nyoko was watching her for any sign of sadness."

"Nyoko?"

"The baker woman."

"Oh." Minato stared at Kushina. Slowly, as if he was afraid Tsunade would stop him; he reached for one of her hands and grasped it in his. Tsunade didn't stop him. "I'm not good with this. I'm good at making her smile. This is… hard. Females are hard. Just before, she was smiling in the bakery. Then she was upset at me for not letting her in. Then she was upset again. Now she's… she's fainting because she's panicking, and it looks like she's dying again? And she's also hiding how she's feeling from herself, so much so that just some fabric and metal makes her collapse? How do girls stand feeling so much in one day?"

"_People_ don't stand it. _People_ collapse."

"Oh."

"Do you want to help her?"

Minato stared up at Tsunade then. Was she crazy? "Of course I want to help her! Why do you think I take her out so much?"

"Ask her to tell you about the country a bit more. Ask her about the weather. The food. What her favourite pet was. Get her to wear her forehead protector. She'll tell you about the bad things when she's able."

"But the look on her face when I ask her things like that…" He could remember the look on her face when he'd asked her about her sensei. "It's painful to see."

"Forget how her face makes _you_ feel, think about how much better she'll feel when she's spoken about it. And tell her about Whirlpool."

"Easy for you to say." Minato muttered and put his head on the bed.

"I never thought you'd be a coward."

"A what?"

"Coward."

"I'm not a coward."

"If you're afraid of telling her the truth, you're a coward." Tsunade stood up. "She'll wake in an hour or two."

One of the younger medic-nin came into the room then, going up to Minato. "I have a message from Jiraiya-sama who's outside. _'You're late. It's for Konoha's own good that you do this assignment, and Kushina will have to be all right for a few days without you.' _He wants you out there straight away."

Minato sighed. "I… okay. Tell him I'll be out in a minute."

"She'll be all right for a few days." Tsunade smiled a bit then and ruffled the younger man's yellow hair. He really was just a teenager, for all the responsibilities and expectations he already had heaped on him.

Minato hesitated, knowing the older woman was watching, then kissed Kushina's forehead. He'd hurry back after it was done.

* * *

AN- They're still hounding me to write. Shesh.

Thankyou for the reviews!


	8. Chapter 8

Four young men sat in a row, stiff backed and tense, their eyes fixated on the floor between their feet. Not one of them looked up when a woman brushed past, they twitched but didn't react otherwise when there was a pair of lips on their skin, and they tried their best to politely move away when there was a pair of hands trying to pull at clothing or tug them away from each other.

They had power in numbers and they refused to move. Even when the women continued to pour alcohol down their throat, one by one, they refused to dislodge from their safe 'safety in numbers' positions.

"For Konoha's future, huh." Minato muttered, irritated, wishing his arms weren't so securely bound behind his back. He would have been out there as fast as he could. He found his head tilted back and some sort of burning alcohol tipped down his throat as his nose was held, and all he could do was splutter and try to swallow as little as possible.

"He told me that too." There was a spluttering nearby, and the sounds of someone trying their best to spit it out.

"If that troublesome woman finds out I'm here…" _That_ had to be Shikaku. He was a bit older than Minato was, by about four years. Minato had heard that he'd been seen dating a woman.

"I don't want to end up like a castrated dog. She'll do that, you know." That was Inoichi, Minato thought, but he hadn't heard about him dating. Maybe he'd kept it secret.

"And why us four?"

Jiraiya laughed at the four of them from where he sat, flanked by two of the beautiful women he'd paid for with Minato's money. He'd planned it well. Four young men, all dating women, and now all flanked by gorgeous experienced women who know what they were doing. If anyone could educate the boys…

"You're the only four currently dating women that aren't out on missions. I couldn't take anymore than four without getting the women shinobi of Konoha suspicious and you don't want them to find out you're here, do you?"

There was a collective shudder at _that_ suggestion. If they found out that five of the men had gone on a 'mission' to the Red Light District, they wouldn't believe that the four young men were here against their will. Or if they did, they'd laugh at the four of them for being so easily caught and bound. They weren't supposed to be overwhelmed by naked skin and pretty women.

"If one of you takes a step out of here, I'll tell your woman." Jiraiya added after an afterthought.

Minato stared away from his sensei and out the window, fixating on the black area and the street. Women of all shapes and sizes, most of them barely concealed, were everywhere. And men came and went, entering buildings, waving money at the women, some of them looking guilty and some of them with expressions that could only be described as a childish glee.

"Why don't you look at me, hmm? I'll show you what a woman likes." A woman had bent over Minato and he found himself staring at a pair of barely concealed breasts. Very _large_ barely concealed breasts. He shut his eyes as fast as he could. Minato often had trouble understanding Jiraiya but not today.

"Don't you find us attractive?" There was a voice to the left, right above the spot Inoichi had been tied to.

"I've got a woman to look at."

"So have I." Minato agreed, gritting his teeth, and leapt backwards as he felt something brush against his face.

"Oh, do you, Minato-kun? Who is she?" Inoichi asked from Minato's right.

"Don't you remember the rumours? That refugee shinobi he'd been playing puppy around."

"That's a girl? She's got no breasts!" Choza didn't sound impressed. "No, that's a boy."

"It's a girl. Just ask sensei, he was perverted enough to spy on her naked." Minato didn't know why but he suddenly felt the urge to prove to them that she was a girl. "He saw her breasts."

"I didn't see her naked. She's not my type." There was women's laughter from where Jiraiya sat, "I like women with breasts."

"She has breasts!"

"Nothing's there. Not even a mosquito bite. I thought it was a boy. She dresses like a young man."

"She doesn't? You've seen her?"

"Shame."

"Why are we talking about Kushina-san's breasts?" Minato twitched. It was the second time that day that he'd found himself being drawn into a conversation about them. Earlier, Jiraiya had mentioned that he _hadn't_ looked at Kushina naked and had asked about her breasts. He'd had enough of this. "And what do breasts have to do with a woman anyway? Choza has breasts and he's a male."

He could feel Choza trying to throw himself at Minato, but it was hard to do with Shikaku in-between them.

"Oh, so you like smaller breasted women?" The thing brushing against him moved away. "Mieko-chan, this one is all yours!"

Minato felt a smaller pair of hands on him, hands that were as soft and delicate as Kushina's. He'd rather be hospitalized than sit here, being touched by someone pretending to be Kushina. And were those lips? He HAD to think of something. Anything…and that would do! "Choza, you're …you're… fa… fat."

"What!"

"Fat." Mianto felt bad for Shiaku, even worse for saying this when he'd normally never say such a thing, but he was _desperate_. That woman's hands weren't on his chest anymore, they were far_far_ lower. "You should wear a dress."

There was an immediate response and Minato somehow managed to fall off the couch as the heavy body of Choza flew across Shikaku, knocking shinobi and females to the floor. Jiraiya had his hair around Choza, Minato could see out of the corner of his eye, and he was up, running, ignoring the shouts, getting the hell away from there as fast as he could.

He'd just have to tell Kushina before Jiraiya did.

* * *

"Kushina… Kushina-san… wake up." 

Kushina opened her eyes and stared at Minato. He bent over her, trying to nudge her with his shoulder, and was looking desperate. She tried to figure out what he was doing, but her mind was still asleep. His breath stank of something and his eyes weren't focused completely. "What are you doing?"

"I need your help." Minato wobbled a bit and collapsed onto the bed beside her.

Sitting up, Kushina saw in the dim light of her night light that he was lying there strangely with both arms behind his back. There were lipstick marks on his face and neck and not just there, there were lipstick marks on his chest too. Hi forehead was bloody but who cared about that when there were kiss marks on his _neck_? That woke Kushina's mind up and it was suddenly screaming and mad with jealousy. What had he been doing? Why was he half naked? "There's kiss marks on your neck."

"What?" He stared up at her blankly.

"You've got also got lipstick marks on you." She crossed her arms, annoyed; did he really have to come to her when he'd just finished with a girlfriend? And he looked like he was drunk. Kushina was feeling that hurt again, was this why he'd been acting so strangely? She shouldn't be hurt as he'd never said she was his girlfriend but… "A girlfriend?"

"No, no, it was Jiraiya-sensei…" Minato tried to sit up on the bed but failed. He felt strange. Minato felt an urge to kiss her and failed, she knocked him off the bed with her legs.

"_He_ kissed you?"

"No, and no, I don't have a girlfriend; he decided to take us…" He hesitated and changed that, hopefully protecting the other three, "…me… to a…favourite… place of his …" He hesitated, staring at her.

"Apprentice Perverts. How many of you went?"

"I'm not an apprentice pervert! As soon as he was distracted, I ran as fast as I could. Please, I need you to untie me." Minato stood up with some serious effort and wobbled from side to side till he finally found the wall to lean on. He could feel his forehead protector falling halfway down his face and tried to look at her. It was getting hard when it now covered one of his eyes and threatened the other.

"Untie you?"

Minato turned around and showed her his arms. Both had been bound tightly and in a way so that he couldn't make hand seals. "He didn't want me to get away."

"You don't have a girlfriend?"

"No! …well…"

"What?" Kushina was pulling one of the sharp kunai out of his weapons pack and started to hack at the ropes carelessly.

"I guess I don't have one. Just untie me, please. I need to sit down."

"I'm cutting it. How can you guess? You either do or don't!" She yanked at the tie at the back of his head as well, pulling the forehead protector off, and stuffed it in her pocket. His hair seemed to need it to stay neat, Kushina noticed, it suddenly fell all over the place.

"Well, do you have a boyfriend?"

"I can never tell if I do or I don't." The words were out before she could tug them back in. Kushina felt her face warm and wished the lights had been turned out. But it was stupid of her to be annoyed like this anyway; one wasn't instant girlfriend because they'd kissed. She yanked irritably at the rope with the sharp edge till it finally cut through. "And what does that have to do with you having a girlfriend?"

"What?" Minato turned around, shaking his arms loose, and stared down at her. "You had one?"

"I don't know." Kushina brushed the bangs aside so that she could check the blood. It looked like it'd just been from a few cuts on his forehead. Had he been running through the bush? There were leaves and twigs tangled all through it. She started to pull them out, one by one.

"…How couldn't _you_ know?" Minato was feeling jealous now. Was it another refugee? One of the other shinobi? Minato hadn't been around enough to see if she had a boyfriend between spending time with him, and felt even more irritated that she hadn't said anything. "What's he doing? If he's using you…"

"Using me?"

"For… is he?" His eyes darkened and he looked down at her. So she had a boyfriend, but he was using her? For sex? She was beautiful; Minato thought darkly as he looked down at her, he shouldn't have left her alone without a man's protection. There were too many men out there willing to use a pretty thing like her and to convince her, as innocent as she was, that it had to be secret.

"I don't know, is he?"

"He_is_ then!" She didn't answer and so naturally that had to mean that it was true. Minato's hands twitched. "Who is he?"

"You're an idiot" Kushina pushed him back and climbed back into bed. She pulled the covers over her head. "Can't you go away?"

"I know him, don't I. He's someone I know." Minato collapsed on the bed again. "I'll kill him."

"Minato-kun…."

"Who is he?"

"Who's your girlfriend?" She was tiring of this; it felt like they were exchanging physical blows instead of snapping at each other with short sentences. She felt tired again and wished he'd go away and grow his brain back. It must have fallen out at some point. Maybe while he was getting drunk with Jiraiya and some friends in Jiraiya's 'favourite place'.

"I'm asking about this boyfriend of yours that's using you!"

"I'm not telling you. You're drunk or something. Go to bed."

Minato yanked the blanket away from her then, trying to throw it against the wall but getting tangled in it in the process. He felt furious with this strange person, even more so because he now looked like an idiot as he flailed and struggled, trying to unwrap the blanket from himself. Had this strange man violated her with the blanket? Minato growled, tugged out another kunai and started to cut it off him instead with jagged slashes. When he escaped and had thrown the pieces to the wall like he wanted he'd go find this man! "Not till you tell me."

"So go look in a mirror and ask him! The bathroom's down the hall." Kushina yelled, annoyed, and tugged the blanket away from Minato. He was a moron, how how was she supposed to sleep? She pulled the pillow over her head. "Go away. I'm asleep."

He was in the bathroom? Minato went out into the hall, and down to the bathroom. He pushed the door open, breaking off the hinges, and tried to find the boyfriend. Was he hiding? Not in the bath, or in the shower, he wasn't behind the door… mirror? Minato stood in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection. All he could see was himself.

Then it hit him that maybe it wasn't another who she was talking about. He was bewildered and a little taken back by that. She didn't… but he didn't… and … but they had kissed and he vaguely thought he might have asked her out once at some point… Minato wondered if that suspicious alcohol forced down his throat had started to take effect. Or if there'd been a hallucinogen in it.

He went back down the hall and peered in the door. "Kushina-san? What did you say?"

"I'm asleep. Go away."

"No, before that." He climbed on top of her, straddling her waist and tugged the pillow away.

"Sleeping people don't repeat themselves. And I'm asleep." Kushina shut her eyes tighter and made unconvincing snoring noises. Now that Kushina's anger was dying, she was starting to cringe and wish she'd kept her mouth shut.

"Did you really say…?"

She interrupted him with louder snoring noises. Why couldn't he go away?

"Kushina?" Minato reached down and cupped her face with a hand. Her face was bright red and she was deliberately squeezing her eyes shut.

She refused to answer.

She had said it, Minato thought, he hadn't hallucinated. But they weren't dating. Were they? He hadn't been sure about it either. They hadn't dated, exactly, not officially. But they'd always gone out together. And he'd kissed her. She'd kissed back. And he'd seen her nak…well, that was just Jiraiya's fault. The second time, anyway.

Minato had gone so quiet that Kushina wondered if he had passed out sitting up, and she opened one eye. He was still there, staring, his eyes wide and glazed, and his jaw hanging down.

"You look like a drunken fish." She muttered.

Minato couldn't contain it anymore. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it'd just been building since the last time he'd done it, but he wanted to kiss her again and as quickly as possible. He pushed her down and pressed his lips onto hers, shifting his body onto the bed over Kushina's body that was under the covers, hands brushing the hair out of his way. He pulled back grudgingly so that he could answer, "I hope you don't mind dating a drunken fish," and was kissing her again, her lips, her face, her neck, he couldn't get enough of her.

If she'd expected an answer, _that_ hadn't been it. Kushina stared at him as he kissed her, tried to understand that hungry expression, tried to return the kisses but was too stunned to respond quickly enough and arched her neck to the side automatically when his mouth found her skin there. She wasn't sure if she was glad about the blankets being between them or not… "So we're…" An unfamiliar sound, was that a moan?!, interrupted her sentence and she tried to push him away before he made anymore of those happen. "…we're dating?"

Minato wouldn't have let her push him off in normal circumstances… but he didn't feel normal and balanced. He fell off the bed and scrambled to his knees, leaning on the edge as he stared up at her. "If… if that's okay with you."

"It's okay."

"Do you want me to go?"

"No! No… can you stay here tonight?" Did that sound too forward? It was true that he was drunk, and wasn't very good company, but she really didn't want him to go. Kushina quickly continued, "I didn't see you all day and you'll go back to training soon with your team. So can you stay here till I go to work?"

"I'll stay. I'm too tired to move from this room. I want to sleep."

She smiled and pulled him back up into the bed. When he'd lain beside her, Kushina shyly curled up into him and Minato wrapped both arms around her. He could feel her soft arms, her soft body, the silk top she wore didn't do anything to hide the shapes and curves like before. Or was it because he was topless, he could feel it all more now? If he didn't feel so tired… if he…

Kushina stared up at him. Minato's eyes had closed and his lips were curved up in a tiny smile. He probably wouldn't remember that night. Yawning, she shut her eyes and tried to go to sleep as well.

* * *

Kushina woke and lay there, eyes shut, trying to cling to her dream. She was dreaming that there was the warmth of someone else's body, that there was an arm under her head that wasn't hers and another arm holding onto her. There was, in her dream, breathing that wasn't her own. And Minato's smell mingled with the smell of alcohol. 

Only it wasn't a dream.

Kushina opened her eyes and stared at the face a few inches from her own. Minato had curled up beside her under the covers, still passed out.

"Kushina-chan? Are you awake?" There was someone at the door, knocking, and she cringed.

"Yes?" Kushina called softly. She was afraid she'd wake him but he stayed asleep. She scrambling to the edge of the bed and pulled the ripped sheet so that it covered him a bit more, then hurried to the door. Kushina opened it an inch and peered out.

It was her boss.

"You're late for work. It's already five. I thought I'd come wake you."

Kushina paled. "I'll be ten minutes. Less, even. I'm sorry. "

"It's okay. I only needed you for the morning shift anyway. I'll meet you downstairs."

Shutting the door, Kushina stole a glance in Minato' direction as she started to search for something clean to put on. He hadn't stirred and was still breathing slowly. She dressed facing him, pulling on clothes as fast as she could without tripping, she was glad she'd worn her pants to bed, and was relived that he still didn't wake. Kushina went to the door, hesitant and went back to kiss his forehead and gave him a quick timid kiss. Then she hurried to work.

* * *

"Urgh." Minato sat up and opened his eyes. He wished he hadn't, the light stabbed his eyes and he groaned and covered his head with his arms. The stupid alcohol. He could remember everything. Being tied up, calling Choza fat, running for hours and hours with branches attaching his head, running into trees, finding Kushina's first room and trying to find her, then running to her new room and waking her and… 

He smiled wearily. And then nothing. He could remember their agreement to date. But after that, it was blurry and his head hurt too much to try.

Minato tried to climb out of her bed. She must have gone to work already. There were her pyjamas lying there in a small heap on the floor. Had she changed with him sleeping in the room? The thought 'I wish I'd woken' crossed his mind and he went red. She'd also taken his forehead protector off. He had to find it somehow. Minato ignored the panties nearby, and the bra that was half under the bed, why didn't she put her clothes away?

"I hope the others got away." Minato muttered. He couldn't find his forehead protector. Maybe she had it still. He'd have to brave the daylight and find her.

* * *

"Kushina-san!" 

Kushina looked up and saw Minato coming in, waving, his face full of smiles. Hadn't he been drunk? She thought drunk people were supposed to suffer the next day. He was also using san again, did that mean that they were going back to that? "Minato-kun?"

She cried out in surprise when he leapt across the counter and tackled her painfully to the ground. "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you hello!" He hugged her then kissed her cheeks.

Kushina felt completely bewildered. Minato never was this affectionate in public. In fact, he wasn't this affectionate in prive either, unless he was as drunk as he was last night. What was he doing…?

Then she heard a hiss from behind the counter.

"Idiot. Minato-sensei wouldn't do that."

"I don't know why we had to do this stupid plan anyway. We can just ask her where he is."

"You two are ruining it!"

That was Minato again. Or the person being Minato. Kushina felt even more confused now and pushed 'Minato' off her.

A small girl stood up and smiled shyly over the counter at Kushina. Another boy stood up and looked at her passively. When she looked back to 'Minato', he'd changed into a smaller boy with goggles and dark hair. He climbed to his feet.

"I'm sorry if this is rude… but who are you?" Kushina stared at the three of them.

"They're my students." Minato stepped into the shop completely then, wincing when the three greeted him in near-unison. It had to be later than he thought.

"Minato-sensei. You were late. Hokage-sama sent us to find you. He said that Kushina-san would know where you are."

"I was poisoned last night." Minato lied, although it wasn't far from the truth. He smiled apologetically at Kushina, he'd seen that tackle. It looked painful. "That was an impressive Jutsu there, Obito-chan."

"I finally learned how to do it, sensei!"

"Congratulations, Obito-chan!" That was the girl again, and Kushina was amused to see how embarrassed the boy got at the praise.

"Where's your forehead protector?" Kakashi asked, ignoring Obito and Rin.

"Oh. I was coming to ask Kushina."

Kushina flushed with pleasure when he called her Kushina only, and forgot what he'd just said for a few seconds. Then she went 'Oh!' and fished around in her pants pocket. She'd left it in there last night. It was with her own and she pulled them both out. Kushina tried to ignore her own and gave the other to Minato. "Sorry. I was so worried about your _poisoned_ state; I forgot to give that back to you."

He glanced at the other one she held in her hand tightly, her fingers covering the symbol. Minato remembered what Tsunade had said and moved behind the bench to take it from Kushina. "Kushina…"

"What are you doing?" Kushina wasn't sure why he wanted it. She let go of it and he smiled.

Minato stepped behind her and pulled her hair back, tying it around her forehead, and then let his hands drop, grabbing onto her hands so that she couldn't take it off again. "It looks good, Kushina, leave it on."

"Who poisoned you?"

"Jiraiya-sama. It was training." Minato didn't let go of Kushina's hands. "Did you say Hokage-sama sent you?"

"Yes, he said that he couldn't find you so he made us come get you as a mission. We get paid for it too, he said you'd pay for it, and we'd get paid C rank payment each!"

"Did he?" Minato wasn't sure if he was supposed to be amused or annoyed. He had seen his wallet last with Jiraiya. They'd have to wait. "If he sent you to find me, then I better hurry, right?"

They nodded, and he couldn't help but notice how their eyes kept darting from his face to his and Kushina's clasped hands, and then to her forehead protector. She wasn't speaking and her face was flushed again, but she didn't look upset. He stepped closer to her, wrapping an arm around her and said, "Let me introduce you to Kushina. Kushina, this is Obito-chan, Kakashi-chan and Rin-chan. My students."

Kushina suddenly felt shy and embarrassed. Why couldn't he have let go of her and introduce them?

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"Yes." Minato glanced down at her and was delighted to see her eyes light up. He suddenly wished his students weren't there… her lips trembled, and he wanted to make them stop trembling. But he had to see the Hokage. "We should go see him now. I'll see you in a while, Kushina."

"Okay… Minato." She smiled weakly at him and her mind and body cried out in protest when Minato's body stopped touching hers.

"And then we'll talk." He added, softer, and when his student's backs were turned, Minato kissed her lips as quickly and inconspicuously as he could manage. If they saw it, he'd never hear the end of it. "Okay?"

"Okay."

She watched him go and collapsed against the wall, Kushina's legs suddenly too weak to hold her up. He'd just said she was his girlfriend. Girlfriend! Kushina would never tire of hearing that word. Reaching up to touch the forehead protector, she vaguely felt an urge to take it off, but Kushina couldn't. Not now that _he'd_ put it on.

"Teenagers."

Kushina scrambled to her feet and saw ---'s amused face staring across at her from the doorway. "I… sorry, I didn't know he'd come in…"

"As long as you don't take him behind the counter again, I'll forgive you. Get up; you've got a few hours of selling to go."

Kushina stood up and tried to concentrate on her work again.

* * *

A.N.: I picked those four boys partly because they all seem to have a kid the same year. Is it the power of Jiraiya's training :O 

Delay with this chapter because whenever I tried to write the drunken Minato and Kushina scene, he kept trying to ravish her, no matter how many times I wrote it. Bloody teenagers!


	9. Chapter 9 Part 1

"We need to talk."

It had been over a week and a half since she'd seen him, and she hadn't felt too concerned. Minato had his duty to Konoha. Kushina understood and even though the time passed slowly, she didn't worry. And she hadn't taken the forehead protector off, hoping that if he glimpsed her, he'd see her with it on still.

But 'We need to talk' was the first thing he said to her after all that time. She had immediately felt anxious. Minato's face was tense. He had refused to tell her what was going on and had taken her into the training grounds, his hand clutching tightly to hers, not glancing back once.

When he finally stopped leading her into the forest, Minato sat down against a tree and waited for her to sit down next to him.

"What's wrong?" Kushina sat beside him

Minato picked up a piece of grass and started to wind it around his finger. He hadn't wanted to talk with her about this yet. Maybe later, after he gave her chocolate, after he finally gave her a birthday present, he'd be able to. But he'd run out of time to tell her. "Several things."

Kushina's heart stopped. Did he regret calling her his girlfriend?

"Whirlpool's destroyed."

She didn't collapse like he'd expected her to do. Kushina just sat there, her face paling, her hands tensing into fists that grasped onto the fabric beneath them. And than she said, "I …thought maybe it was."

"You did?"

She nodded and he saw that she was trying despertly not to cry, that there were tears leaking out of her eyes, and that she was letting the hair fall around her face so that he didn't see them.

"Kushina."

"Konoha stopped sending shinobi in to help my village." Kushina's voice was shaking, her body was shaking, but she still tried to wipe the tears away with her sleeve. "I guessed."

"I'm sorry." Minato dropped the grass and tried to grab onto her hand. She pulled it away from him.

"Is everything… everyone… gone?"

"No. There are survivors, Shinobi and villagers. Konoha's shinobi are still there, protecting them till they decide what to do."

"To do?" She shut her eyes, she felt sick, memories of faces, both familiar and strange, swam before her eyes. And the village, the village that had been powerful and large, and the clans, and the buildings… and… and… hadn't Konoha's own first Hokage been a Whirlpool Shinobi once? There'd been rumours he had. How could they be destroyed, just like that?

"Hokage-sama will offer them refuge here. In Konoha."

"They won't just abandon…"

"The village is gone, almost, there's only a few buildings left. And Mist keeps attacking…if they don't, they'll all die there. Our shinobi can't protect them forever."

"You mean, Konoha's shinobi will leave if they refuse?" She was suddenly angry, suddenly pulling herself out of Minato's grasp, out of his hands, out of his lap.

"No! They'll stay there till…" He didn't want to say 'they die'. But that was what would happen. It was already happening. "They wished to stay there as long as they had to."

"What about our shinobi? Where are they?"

"There's a few left. They're defending the village together."

Minato grabbed at Kushina and pulled her back over, ignoring her hands pushing his hands away, pulling her into his lap. He grabbed onto her and hung on. It was only then that she saw he was shaking as much as she was, and he looked sad, afraid, terrified, she'd never seen this look on Minato's face before now. He looked as bad as she felt.

He pleaded, "Just stay sitting here with me…"

"Okay."

He clutched onto her with his head buried in her hair. "He wants you to go back with the offer."

"Go back?"

Minato could feel the thing Hokage-sama had offered Kushina, feel it burning him through the fabric, and feel the weight of it.

"As a… as …" Don't hate me for this, he was thinking, don't. Please, don't. "As one of us."

"Us?"

Minato pulled the forehead protector out of his pocket and dropped it on the ground. How could such a cold thing be so painful to hold? "Konoha."

"He wants me to be an example."

Minato nodded.

"They'll just be absorbed by the fire country."

"No."

"Yes, they'll remember… but their children won't, and we'll just be the former whirlpool country, absorbed by Konoha." Kushina stared at the thing on the grass in front of them. "We've been a country for far longer than this one, longer than most of the others, how can I offer them a future in which they know they'll be forgotten?"

She knew that Whirlpool had already started to fade. Their clans were almost gone. Who knew how much knowledge had been lost? Their libraries would be gone if only a few buildings stood, and their secrets, and their bloodlines…

"I know."

"Do you? Your entire country is still here! The clans are surviving, the bloodlines, the Hokage, your history, everything that's your country… it's still here! But…" Kushina's throat constricted and she went quiet. She didn't resist when Minato tried to pull her even closer.

"We'd never let Whirlpool be forgotten." He tried to reassure her. "_Never_. Our countries… they'd been friends since our founding, hadn't they? Hadn't we shared chunin exams? Don't wear this then… but if the last die there, there's no one to remember besides you and the refugees that are already here."

"But it'd still happen."

"We don't want them to die there." His voice broke a bit. He didn't want her to die there. If she went back…

"They'd die here."

"I'll make sure they're not forgotten. I'll go tell the Hokage now, if you want, tell him that you refuse without …without… some guarantee that they won't be forgotten."

"Minato…"

"If they are important to you, they're important to me. What you want for your country, I want too."

She didn't answer that.

"Kushina?"

"Let me think." Kushina tried to think. But the stupid tears wouldn't stop falling, and she couldn't think if she felt emotional. Emotions were wasteful. So was pride. Was it pride that made her want to cling to Whirlpool, made her want to reject the Hokage's offer? But pride was such a huge part of their heritage. Was that why they'd been so easily caught off guard, that they'd been too proud to ask for help earlier, too sure of themselves to expect an attack… "If…if I go."

His heart sank.

"If I go… there's no guarantee they'll accept."

"No."

"But if I don't…"

He didn't want her to go. Minato wanted to say 'If you don't, they'll be fine! Stay here with me' but everything he'd been brought up to believe in didn't involve selfishness. Maybe if he stayed quiet…

"What will happen, Minato?"

"They'll die." He'd said it. Minato had said the words that'd get her to leave.

"Then I have to go, don't I?"

Minato nodded, but he was falling apart. He clutched to her tighter, knowing it was harder for her to breathe, knowing his distress was probably obvious, but he couldn't help it. "You have to go."

"But I can only go if I know that they'll …" They'll what? Be treated as heros? Be given the best of places to live? She knew that it wasn't possible. But she wanted them to know they weren't leaving their homes to come to a place, only to live in poverty, to be strangers and treated as such.

"I know. Hokage expected you'd have requests."

She laughed a laugh without any emotion in it. When had Kushina become the embassy for her own village? "Requests."

"And he said that Konoha would do its best."

"I'm fifteen." She muttered. "Aren't I?"

Minato pulled her away a bit and looked down at her face. He couldn't read her expression… but it wasn't the face a fifteen year old made. It looked older, worn out, as if the person hadn't physically aged but had been forced by life to mature faster than their body could. He'd seen it when he had been at Whirlpool those few days, children staring at him with the eyes of adults, adults who looked half dead with fear, people who had decided they'd run out of hope and had almost about readied themselves for death. He didn't like this expression in her face.

"You're fifteen."

"Really?"

"Really. I feel like a dirty old man whenever I touch you. The Jounin seducing the genin."

She laughed again and it wasn't as emotionless as before. "You're seducing me?"

Minato was glad it was starting to drift away from the War, away from her country, away from her choice, and he nodded, leaning down to brush hair away from her ear so that he could nibble it. He might not have done it so quickly in other circumstances but… "I hope so."

"I do too." She whispered, and shuddered, the sensation going right down her spine, her entire body moving with the strength of it.

He suddenly wished she wasn't sitting in his lap and that they weren't sitting in the middle of the training grounds. Minato pulled his head back and tried to regain some control. He picked her up gently and moved her off him.

"What?"

"If I touch you anymore, I won't be able to control myself." He replied, wishing his voice hadn't gotten so husky and that it wasn't so obvious.

She blushed and stared down at her hands. It was still a mystery to her, Kushina wasn't sure what it was that made him do that, but apparently it was her.

Her eyes fell on the forehead protector with the leaf on it, still sitting on the grass between them. If things hadn't been the way they were, Kushina thought, she might have accepted this for him anyway. But with war…

And, Kushina realized with a few stirrings of guilt, it wasn't just war with her country. "What's happening outside the fire country?"

"What do you mean?"

"The other countries, besides ours, I heard rumours about the wind country attacking the borders." She was feeling even worse. Konoha's shinobi were protecting the last of her country, and if the rumours were true…

Minato pulled her into his side, careful to not touch her too much, and rested his chin on the top of her head. "It's true. It looks like relationships between countries are getting worse."

Kushina tensed. Quietly, she asked, "War for the fire country?"

"Not yet." He hesitated, and stroked her back, trying to relax her. Minato could see where her train of thought was going.

"But…"

"We think so." Minato felt his hand being taken by her hands and her fingers started to trace the lines on his palm. "But we're trying to prevent one."

"I need to go back home then."

"Kushina…"

"If your country faces war as ours did, it'll need everyone." Her voice was brittle suddenly. The faces of the people in Konoha were in her mind now, and Kushina could picture this village in ruins too, the people dying here too, Minato's own home gone as quickly as hers had been. "You said that the Hokage-sama was willing to give refuge to all those from Whirlpool who wanted it or needed it. And it'll take a long time for them to come here. If they feel that your country will treat them as well as it does its own people, they'll defend Konoha with your shinobi."

A long time… Minato couldn't hold it in anymore. No matter what the Hokage said, he'd have to go with her. "I'll come."

"No, you won't." She tried to sound stern but Kushina's voice shook. She wanted him to come. How could she face them all, face the devastation he'd spoken of, face any of it without him there beside her? "Your team…"

"I think Hokage-sama wanted to send a team soon anyway to extend an official offer from Konoha to the survivors. And to help protect them."

"He won't send you. It could take a year or more, I doubt we have many boats left to ferry the survivors, they won't leave without what's left of their belongings…" She was already picturing the job ahead. "You need to stay here. I know that."

"I don't want you to be gone for a year or more." Minato added, softly, "But I know why you need to go. Do you think they'll accept the offer?"

Kushina nodded as she continued to draw on his palm, "Our two countries have been friends for generations. All they need is reassurance about their future… they'll know, that they have to come here or the last of Whirlpool are wiped out there. And your country is at risk for defending those who survived."

Minato didn't answer. The sounds of people nearby in the training grounds made him draw away from her and they sat there, side by side, shyly holding hands.

"I suppose you'll leave soon then."

"I suppose."

"I'll come with you to his office, at least?"

Kushina nodded. "I was going to ask you to come. And at least you'll have time to prepare your own students, right? I won't distract you."

"I want you to distract me." He didn't look at her for fear that if he did look at her, if he did see those eyes, Minato wouldn't be able to hold himself back as successfully as he was right now.

"Can you do me a favour?"

He nodded.

"Could you tie the two forehead protectors around my arms? I'll wear both." She held out an arm for him and then the other. It was strangely symbolic as if Kushina had just agreed that she'd agreed to spend the rest of her life in this village, she'd done something that cut her off from her childhood home forever.

He pulled her over and embraced her. Minato couldn't understand why he felt unhappy and happy at the same time. Was it because she'd agreed to leave for such a long time? "Konoha shinobi."

"I'll officially be outranked by you when your… no, _our_ Hokage-sama… makes it official."

"I'll order you to do all sorts of terrible things."

"I can't wait." She scrambled to her feet.

"Wait…"

"What?"

Minato pulled his forehead protector off, and grasping it in his mouth, undid her leaf protector. He tied his own around her arm and put hers around his head. He wasn't sure why he'd done it, and scratched at his ear with embarrassment. "Now we can go."

She laughed at his expression and holding onto his collar, Kushina pulled at him so that she could kiss him.

* * *

Minato stood close enough so that his arm just brushed against hers when he moved. She'd walked so slow when they'd made their way here, he knew that she'd been nervous, and he stood beside her Minato wasn't too afraid of the Hokage finding out about him and Kushina. The older man had probably already found out from sensei.

"You agreed to our offer then?"

Kushina nodded. She was so nervous, and she wasn't sure how the words were coming out right. "But I can't guarantee that they will agree too. If… if they think… I think it'll be hard for them to let go of their old country."

The Hokage nodded. "What do you think the refugees would need to come here?"

"I'd like them to have land and the resources to build buildings, even if we have to shape our own bricks and cut our own planks of wood, so that the survivors know that when they come here that there will be a place for them to rebuild on and a way to do it. And I don't mean scattered around Konoha… land that means they can be in the same area, rebuild in the same area, and open up shops again." She was speaking fast now, unsure if he could even make out half the words, but Kushina felt some confidence again. It felt strange… like she trying to protect her village again. Maybe it was a way of protecting them.

He sat there patiently while someone nearby wrote it down. "Is that all?"

"No. Animals. Not a lot," She added quickly, "just a small amount. The survivors can breed the animals themselves."

"What animals were you thinking?"

"Chickens for eggs and meat, but I can't ask for anything larger or more valuable than them.."

"We'll see what we can do about animals."

"And…"

"Yes?"

"Our shinobi survivors should be allowed to wear their old forehead protectors if they fight under you. Their children… I suppose they wouldn't need it, but those who survived would want all those who saw them to know that Whirlpool is still in their hearts and they still survive, even though our enemies wanted us dead." She wasn't sure why she was adding this but it felt that she needed to.

"You mean, if war came to the fire country." The Hokage glanced from Kushina to Minato and back again, guessing how she'd know about this. He had heard about the girl from Jiraiya, although the younger man hadn't remembered the girl's name, and could see what he meant now.

"Yes." Now that she'd said everything she wanted to say, Kushina was feeling nervous again. Kushina wasn't sure how she would have been able to say any of that without Minato standing beside her, his arm touching hers. "We'd defend our new home with our lives… but we wouldn't want to leave the memory of our old country in the ruins and the graves."

"Would they agree to come if we met those terms?"

Kushina shrugged helplessly. "Not all would. But what choice do they have now? Die there as our attackers want or come here and win a victory by surviving?"

He nodded, writing things down for a minute and then stood up. "We'll do our best to meet those terms. We'll find you land. There's still uncleared areas, if we clear some land for you, there'll be a lot of tree trunks to use as building material. And we'll find an area of the cliff to quarry for stone. Chickens shouldn't be a problem; those brainless birds are all over the place. I can even give you a plump looking rooster today if you'd like- that stupid bird wakes me up at three in the morning like clockwork. We also might be able to get dogs for you. Those bark all night around here."

She was staring at him. Kushina hadn't expected the third Hokage to have a sense of humour.

"And those shinobi who survived can wear the symbol of Whirlpool. And not just your shinobi. _All_ shinobi will wear it."

"I …don't understand."

"In honour of your country, and the history our country has had with it since our first days, all normal Konoha jounin and some chunin will wear the Whirlpool symbol in your shape and in our colour." Hokage was standing up then, and pulling her over to the window. If all had gone according to plan, some of the Jounin should be… "See, down there?"

She stared down at the area he was pointing at. There were some of the Jounin standing down there, talking to each other, ignoring her. But on their arms and backs… it was her country's swirl. In red, not in blue, but it _was_ her country's symbol. She felt her eyes mist up a bit and tried to ignore it. "I… don't …"

"We hope that the survivors can come here and feel that they're welcome. Konoha won't forget your country."

"You didn't tell me that when you asked for her." Minato muttered. And why hadn't he gotten his new uniform?

"If I told you, you'd tell her before I could." The Hokage glanced over his shoulder at Minato.

Minato nodded and tried to not look embarrassed. He probably would have, just to see her smile.

"I hope you can bring them to safety with this offer."

She nodded. Kushina was still staring at the jounin out of the window, unable to believe that they'd gone to this trouble. "I'll try. No. I will."

"Good. Then you'll be leaving in a week with a team. I'll be introducing you in a few days time."

Minato felt his heart sink. _A week?_

"You're a genin?"

She nodded.

"You are officially a Chunin now, and we'll be testing your abilities before you leave to see if you're Jounin material. I'll speak to you in a few days and tell you more of the arrangements being made." The Hokage sat down again. "You can go now. And if you're hungry, you're allowed to go find that rooster."

Kushina smiled weakly and turned to leave the room. Minato hesitated, almost wanting to ask if he could be placed on the teams, but he knew that he couldn't. He followed Kushina out.

AN: I found out that the chunin exams only took place between countries after the third war. Opps. XD So… I'm going to say that Whirlpool and Fire Country had a joint chunin exam before the war. Seeing as we don't know anything about the relationship between those two countries then, it's probably safer to guess this.

* * *

THREE parts in one chapter. :O The next chapter is their first time, so if you don't like sex… or sex that isn't perfect… then please skip it and go to the part after when it only barely skips it over with the fine details.. XD 


	10. Chapter 9 Part 2

Minato took Kushina back to his room this time, and she wasn't at all surprised to see that it wasn't as dirty and terrible as he'd tried to make it sound.

She froze a few feet into the room and stared. Clothes were folded in piles, the bed was perfectly made, the books were in large to small order, scrolls were placed in careful piles on the table, and everything was too neat. Even the chairs around the table looked perfect and in order!

"I'm sorry that it's untidy." Minato muttered, shutting the door behind them.

"Messy?" She laughed.

"Don't you think so?" He looked critically at his room. He couldn't see it being very neat, he'd forgotten to put the scrolls and paper away.

"No! I was expecting far worse. Minato…" She turned to face him, intending on asking about the room he'd described, but the words were lost when their faces met.

Kushina wasn't sure how she got onto the table or how Minato got from where he stood to this spot, on her, his mouth on her, his hands pulling her shirt apart. She was too overwhelmed to do anything more than clutch at his clothes. There was the rush of cold air on her chest and she covered it, embarrassed, wishing she'd had something more there for him to see. Like other women.

"What?" He was breathing heavily, and ran his hands along her legs, pulling them around his waist.

"I…" She tried to speak, tried to tell him that it wasn't dark enough, but Kushina couldn't get the words out. And she didn't resist when he pulled her hands away, wrapped his arms around her so that he could lift her up into a sitting position. There was her shirt on the floor, her numb mind noticed, in amongst all those scrolls. And…

"How do you get these things off?" Minato muttered, annoyed, trying to pull at the bra. It wasn't unclipping… or whatever those things did.

"You… uh…." She felt something cold press into her back.

He was too impatient to wait and cut it off. Minato hesitated then and stared down at her. She looked so nervous and embarrassed, and she was covering her chest again with her arms. "Don't you want me to see them?"

"…Do you want to?"

"Yes." Minato gently took her hands in his and pulled her arms away, to her side, and looked at her. They were perfect, he noticed with wonder, perfect in how they weren't perfect. They weren't like others, or like those ones he'd seen in the books by accident. Minato touched one gently, afraid he'd hurt her if he pressed too hard, and was amazed when his touch did that to her chest. What if he…

Kushina's breath hitched when Minato tried that, her hands clutching to his arms, and he jerked back in alarm.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No." She smiled at him and wished he'd put his hand back where it'd been.

"Do you want me to stop?"

Kushina shook her head, and then shyly, "But… not on the table."

He laughed and picked her up. Her legs tightened around his waist and Kushina could feel that poking again, pressing into her, but she knew that this time… before she could think that further, she was lying on his bed, his body kneeling between her legs.

A minute later, they were both naked, and all she could remember was his sweating face as he cut her clothes, cut his own, trying to get them out of the way as fast as he could. Minato bent over her, kissing her hard, his hands trying to feel for where he was supposed to put it… and then he hesitated, he'd found it, but…

Minato sat back and stared down. Was it _really_ supposed to fit in there? He suddenly thought that maybe he was abnormally sized and that maybe he should go get it checked out in the hospital.

Kushina stared down as well. She tried to relax, but she could see his thingie, and it was there and… why had he stopped? "What… what's wrong?" He glanced up at her, and she saw that he was trying to look like he knew what he was doing. Kushina would have laughed if she wasn't so nervous. He climbed back up to her, pulling her legs around his waist.

It hurt, she noticed, but she couldn't tell him. Kushina stared up at his face, and he stared back down at her, but she wouldn't tell him. It only hurt the first time, someone had told her once, and then it'd be good. She clutched to him with her arms and hands, accidentally clawing at his back when he moved in her, both wishing that he'd hurry and that he wouldn't stop As painful as it was, Kushina felt something else, she didn't know how to explain it, but it was trying to overcome the pain and if he kept going…

Something warm and sticky seemed to spill into her then and he groaned as if he were dying, clinging to her, the friction going quickly and leaving Kushina lying there with her body throbbing from pain and… that other feeling. He'd finished?

Minato looked up at her, frustrated and embarrassed, he hadn't meant to do that to her. Wasn't she supposed to be making faces like that girl in that book? And she hadn't. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to …"

"What happened?" Kushina asked as she tried to get her breath back.

He dropped his gaze, feeling guilty.

Kushina took one look at that face and decided she'd forgive everything he'd done wrong ever, and anything he'd ever do wrong ever again. He was so …so… She grabbed at him with her arms and legs, tugging him into her. So their first time had been quick? Kushina decided she didn't care. "I love you s o much!"

Minato looked up at her and he relaxed somewhat, though still feeling guilty. "I love you… and I was supposed to say that first." He shifted a bit, moving hr lower body with his, and almost fell off the bed when his movement made her cry out. "What? What?"

She was wincing inwardly, did he have to move and move her like that? She'd just started to forget the pain! "Nothing."

He looked down and finally noticed the blood. Minato felt like even more of an idiot now. He'd been in such a hurry that he'd forgotten that it'd been her first time too. He collapsed on her, careful to not move her body, and muttered, "I'm sorry. I hurt you. I'm sorry."

"You're such an idiot." She said affectionately, pushing him to the side, so that she could move into his warm body. "It only does this the first time."

"Even still…" Minato pushed her onto her back and knelt there in front of her. "Stay there."

She stared at him and wished he'd stop looking down there like that. It was like… Kushina wasn't quite sure. Like he was trying to will it back up again or something, his face was tense with concentration, and he ignored her when she pushed at him. "What are you doing?"

Minato was trying to remember the book. That stupid graphic book he'd burnt. Why had he burnt it? He needed it, he needed those pictures, he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing! He wasn't even sure if that part of a female was always in the same place, was it? He poked around with a finger, cautious, watching her face for any sign of pain. Poke, poke, poke…

Kushina gasped and her legs twitched around him. What was he doing down there?

"Did that hurt?" He grinned. Found it!

"No! What are you doi…" Kushina cried out again when he did something again, and tried to push him away. "…doing?"

"If you don't lie down, I'll tie you down." He pushed her onto her back and tried to remember what it was he was supposed to do. Was it one finger first, then two…? He wished there wasn't blood…Minato would be able to think if there wasn't blood…

She cried out again when something pushed into her, it hurt, but it was smaller and it didn't hurt as much. And there was that poking again in that spot and…

"Is it hurting?"

"No!" Kushina lied, if she said yes, he'd stop. And she didn't want him to stop. Whatever the hell he was doing, it was vaguely like something else but much much better because he was trying to do it, she didn't want him to stop it. He wasn't, he seemed encouraged by her breathing, her body arching and shaking, her moans, and decided he was probably doing the right thing.

The last coherent thought she had was …now she knew why she'd been so attracted to his big hands.

Minato moved to lie beside her again, she didn't seem to notice, and he stared back at her with a stunned expression. "Are you… okay?" He asked hesitantly, cupping her head and turning it towards him.

She blinked a few times and nodded. "Um. Did you do that before today?"

"No…" He didn't want to tell her that he'd gotten the idea from one of those books. "Was it…okay?"

Kushina just nodded. What was she supposed to say? "…yes."

"I'm glad." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his body again. Why did Minato feel so spent like he'd been training for hours on end?

She reached up to trace his face. The sweat had started to dry by now but he still looked flushed. "You're beautiful."

Minato looked down at her and laughed. "Beautiful? I'm supposed to say that first too. You're beautiful."

Kushina poked out her tongue. "Thankyou."

"What about me is beautiful?" Minato twitched. Was he feminine?

"Your eyes. They're beautiful. I'll miss them." She yawned and shut her eyes, curling tighter into his arm body, deciding that she'd stay there for the night. If it was okay with him. "Can I stay?"

"In Konoha?" Minato came crashing down to reality then, and he remembered that she'd have to go in a week. He wondered seriously if he could fake her kidnapping… keep her hidden in his room.

"No, here, for the night."

"Oh. Yes, stay here." He smiled weakly and tried to arrange his pillow under her head. Minato didn't need it. "Sleep here."

"And you… sort of destroyed my clothes."

"Huh?" Minato blinked and looked over her at the shreds of what were her clothes. He laughed then, he'd figured out why people cut clothes off when they didn't have spare… Who had time to worry about spare clothes at a time like that

"What's so funny?"

"I'll go get more from your room then." He laughed and leaned down, kissing her. Minato dressed quickly and hurried out the door.


	11. Chapter 9 Part 3

"Finally, he's gone!"

Kushina sat up in alarm and grabbed for a pillow when the door opened and four women entered.

"Hello, Kushina-san, we've come to kidnap you for the rest of the night."

Kushina yelped and pulled the bedding over herself. They didn't seem to be bothered by her embarrassment at all and filed in, closing the door and looking around them at the trail of scrolls, ripped clothes and finally, Kushina.

"Look, he cut her clothes off." One of the women nudged at the clothes on the floor.

"What are you doing in here?" Kushina squeaked.

"I suppose he went to get more. Lucky I brought her a dress."

"Get out!" Kushina felt herself being lifted off the bed and hands were dressing her. "I can dress myself! Don't look."

They turned and she yanked the clothes on. A dress? Kushina grabbed for Minato's pants and pulled them on under the dress. They were far too large and long but she felt naked in dresses.

"He didn't use protection." Someone else was saying.

"...I knew that Minato-sama looked dimwitted. Quick, that idiot can move faster than ours can, we better get her out of here in case they fail catching him." The women were spreading out around the room now, glancing out windows, checking down the hall...

Kushina was just feeling dazed. "Um."

"Sorry about this…" A voice from behind said and before she could turn around, there was a jab in her neck and everything went dark.

* * *

Kushina woke on a chair at the end of a long table. She was in a room with chairs, tables, books, and women milled around beyond a long gauzy curtain that separated her from another area.

"Welcome to the society." A voice came from beside her, and Kushina turned to look at the woman sitting there. She smiled warmly at Kushina. Another two women came in through the curtain and took seats in front of her. Kushina stared at the three women in front of her. She'd never seen them before in her life.

"How was it?" One of the women was asking.

"What?"

"Your first time with him!"

Kushina went bright red and stuttered, "Uh… no… wh… you know … I'm not telling you that! Who said there was a first time anyway?"

"We were waiting for it to happen. Our girl here keeps an eye on our men for us. It's very useful, having a shinobi for a friend."

"Shika-chan fainted the first time. Saw my blood and was out like a light. Fell off the bed and got a concussion." That was the dark haired woman. She was laughing, Kushina noticed, she looked delighted by the memory. Everyone else did too.

Kushina wasn't sure if she was supposed to laugh or be embarrassed. She'd never been good around other females.

"Oh, excuse me, I've just got to go to the bathroom." The dark haired woman ducked out of the curtain.

"Um."

"Choza was sweet. Brought me whatever I wanted for a month, afraid to touch me, I had to pin him down in the end and force him to accept I was ready." There was a heavier set woman behind Kushina, she noticed with surprise, and when she laughed, her body laughed with her.

The other women laughed too. How could they not be embarrassed by this kind of talk? Kushina wanted to run out a door and hide under a bed. She would have if she didn't feel so light headed. Had they drugged her?

"So? What was the famous Minato-sama like?"

"I can't tell you that!" Kushina's voice was high pitched, much to her embarrassment, and she tried to cover her cheeks with her hands.

"She's still not drunk, just a bit sedated, so don't ask her too much." One of the other women was sitting next to Kushina then, wrapping her arm around Kushina's shoulders. "We all felt like that when we got ambushed. And we haven't even explained to you about the shinobi woman's society yet, have we?"

"Shinobi women and women who are bonded to shinobi." The darker haired woman interrupted.

"Yes, yes, the title's too long to bother with."

"We could abbreviate it to S.W.S.S society."

"We could… but that's not today's mission. Today's mission is young Kushina-san here."

"I… um…"

"Get her a drink."

Kushina watched as a drink was poured for her and a powder mixed into it. She was still completely bewildered. "Um. Minato…"

"We've got our men onto that problem. Forget him for the moment and listen very carefully, we haven't got long before our men release him. The history of shinobi woman's society…"

"Shinobi women and women who are bonded to shinobi."

"Or SWSS society…"

"Ahem! The_history_ is as old as Konoha itself. Long ago, the women of Konoha who were shinobi, or bonded to a shinobi, found it worthwhile to get together in groups and to arrange what we like to call, 'conception years'. Drink this, it'll help you relax."

She drank it all down, feeling a bit like if she didn't they'd make her anyway, and coughed. "…um." Kushina tried to say 'Conception? We aren't thinking about _babies_ yet…' but was cut off again.

"Don't interrupt. It was an idea that was hard for the first Hokage to accept. But the wife of the Hokage convinced him to accept this notion as a good way to keep maternity leave to certain times. And, more importantly, to make sure that the children of the shinobi would be grouped into ages. This wasn't to say we didn't welcome accidental pregnancies, we welcome them with open arms, but if we arranged 'conception years' we could have a child and know that our children would grow up in the same ages. And they would attend the Academy at roughly the same age. While us women spent the other years enjoying ourselves and doing our jobs without interruption. And so the …the society was created."

"Um."

"Drink this as well. You'll feel better soon, we promise."

Another cup of something was pushed into Kushina's hand. Kushina drank it in one gulp and too late felt the heat of alcohol at the back of her throat. She coughed and spluttered and someone was patting her back. "Um… but… we don't talk about children."

"We didn't expect you to have. The …society… gets in first. And besides, as a new female Konoha shinobi, you were bound to be brought here sooner or later with or without a man. He just got to you faster than we did." The women were laughing again.

"Oh, and you're not to tell him. Or any man, for that matter." One of them added, her face going serious again.

"About this?" Kushina's head was spinning.

The women all went serious then and nodded. "This is a secret society. Our men would be terrified by the idea that the women are in the background organizing childbirth years and years for our children to be born. We just let them think that it's all their doing."

"How?"

"They tend to think that automatically when they find out we're pregnant." One of the older women laughed. "Darling, I'm pregnant! How clever of you to notice that I wanted a baby and to get me pregnant so easily!"

The other women laughed too, and Kushina smiled weakly. She was relaxing a bit now, she noticed, but she still tried to stay tense and alert.

"Now… what was Minato-sama like? We've been waiting impatiently ever since the two of you showed interest in each other."

"Um."

"We'll make it easy. Pick one of these two words. Rough, gentle."

"Uh…" Kushina found another cup of that alcohol in her hand and swallowed it all. It didn't feel too bad. "Um. Rough. Then… the other."

"Interesting. Slow or fast?"

"Huh?" Kushina went bright red when they made hand gestures. "I wasn't watching his speed!"

"No, did he take a long time or was he quick?"

"He was quick." Kushina suddenly felt like she'd betrayed him somehow, they all looked too delighted by this news, and added, "But he tried to make me feel better."

"Oh?" The women moved in closer.

She felt like she was their prey somehow. "Um."

"Like how Choza brought me chocolates and flowers?"

Kushina shook her head.

"He made you feel good after he'd felt good?"

She nodded.

"I would have never have thought he'd know how to do that!" They sounded genuinely surprised and impressed. "Our men hadn't given him instructions yet. Clever boy."

"Your men?"

"They have their own 'secret' society. Not that it's terribly secret. We teach them, making them think they've figured it out on their own, and then they share." The woman grinned. "Did he…"

"I don't want to discuss it anymore."

"That's all right. You've told us enough for today. Welcome to the shino... the society." She glanced at the other women. They grinned. "We've arranged for the next conception year to be this year, luckily for you, so…"

"I'm not ready for a baby! We've only just… and I've got a mission in a week…"

"We know. We're talking in case of accidental pregnancy on your part." The woman was writing something down on a scroll. "We'll put a question mark beside your name. Hopefully there'll be nothing, you're far too young."

"I'm not ready either." That dark haired woman from earlier had come back and took a seat beside Kushina. "Maybe our children will be born in the same year in the future? Oh, I haven't properly introduced myself." The woman held out a hand. "Yoshino Nara. Only just married, I'm not ready for a baby to interrupt things yet. My new husband hasn't learnt his place in my house yet."

Kushina shook the woman's hand. She was starting to feel woozy and strange. "I…um. Kushina. I'm Kushina."

"I know." Nara took a seat beside Kushina. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"I'm eighteen. We're not too different in age."

Kushina tried to smile. She felt sick. "Good."

"What's wrong?"

"I feel ill."

"Too much alcohol. I told you that she wouldn't handle the stronger sake with that sedative."

"Well… we'll take her back now. Kushina, just relax a moment and…"

Another jab and she was falling into the black void again.

* * *

"Kushina… Kushina…" 

She opened her eyes and saw that Minato was bending over her looking concerned. "Minato?"

He sighed in relief and sat back, glad to see that she'd only been asleep. "You were asleep when I got back."

Kushina sat up then, remembering the 'dream', and felt that uncomfortable pain there. She glanced around, but could see no sign of intruders.

"Where'd you get that dress?"

Her heart dropped and she looked down. Kushina was still wearing the dress. And there was a note pinned to it. 'Your initiation gift from the SWSS'

"Where'd you get it?"

"I… had it in my weapons pack." She smiled weakly and crushed the note, trying to push it into the pocket of her shredded pants that were nearby. "I thought I'd surprise you in it and I fell asleep."

Minato smiled and pulled her up to him, hugging her, delighted by how she looked. She looked so sleepy and half out of it, and girly, he almost wanted to try again right then and there, without taking it off. But she looked too sleepy. "You look wonderful."

"Thankyou…" Kushina yawned and found herself slipping back into the darkness. "Sorry. But I'm sleepy. You wore me out."

"Go to sleep then." He was surprised and delighted. He'd worn her out? "I want you to sleep."

* * *

AN: 

…I'm sorry if this society thing seems a bit strange. XD But the shinobi do seem to have children in batches. O.O There's a lot of kids with shinobi parents in Naruto's old class, and if you think about it, there aren't that many shinobi to begin with.


	12. Chapter 10

The first thing Kushina saw when she opened her eyes was a great big, and somewhat terrible looking, birthday cake. She wouldn't have recognized it straight away if not for the fifteen… no, sixteen… seventeen?!… candles that were pushed into it from all angles. It was as large as her head, it had apparently sunk in the middle, and there were areas of burnt cake visible. The icing appeared to have been _poured_ on, it pooled more around the cake than it did on the cake, it had probably been put on while the cake was still warm and it had melted. There were chunks of icing on the icing, and chocolates pressed into those chunks- it looked like it had lots of chocolate growths between the candles.

Kushina sat up and stared at it. It didn't just have chocolates; someone had tried to draw a couple of things on the top of the chocolates with _more_ icing. She assumed they were supposed to be the leaf symbol and a whirlpool symbol, but it was hard to tell as they'd fallen in the cracks of the chocolates.

She loved it.

Minato sat up sleepily. He could see her staring at his greatest creation yet, grinned, and leaned forward to rest his chin on her shoulder. "Morning."

"What's this?"

"Your late birthday cake." He replied happily. Minato had gone to the baker while she slept, and had made the woman tell him how to make it. He didn't let her touch it, just tell him what to do next… and it had worked out, sort of. The icing and chocolate would hide the burnt bits. He was pretty proud of it.

"It looks… very sweet." She had heard something that sounded like pride in his voice, and couldn't bear to tell him otherwise. "Really sweet and really good. When can I eat it?"

Minato leapt off the bed. He cut a slice, put it on a plate, piled some of the pooled icing on top of it and pushed it into her hand. "Now. Happy late birthday."

Kushina watched helplessly as chunks of icing and chocolate escaped. It was cooked on the outside, a little undercooked in the middle, but she ate it anyway. It was so _sweet_. She swallowed and asked, "Um, why are there _seventeen_ candles?"

His smile dropped. "It's because… well… six days."

Kushina froze, a piece of chocolate half way to her mouth, then put the piece of cake down on the plate. "Yeah."

"And I'm afraid I'll miss your birthday."

Kushina didn't answer and reached for another bit of that chocolate.

"Kushina." Minato was grabbing at her hand that had been halfway to her mouth and stared at her intently. "I want to train with you today. And tomorrow. And every day till you leave." Minato was deadly serious now, something he wasn't used to being around her, but he'd been thinking about it the entire time he'd been up making the cake. She had to leave for months, maybe longer, and the idea of her being so far away beyond his reach made Minato felt apprehensive all of a sudden. She'd be going into a war zone without him in which she'd have to escort civilians with a limited number of shinobi to help her. He didn't doubt her ability to fight but he wasn't comfortable with it. "And I won't let you say no."

"Okay." What was she supposed to say? Kushina was suddenly nervous. She had gotten used to Minato but to train with the shinobi side? He'd find out that she wasn't at his level and laugh at her.

He pushed the chocolate into her mouth. "Good. Now eat and gain weight. You'll need energy."

"Okay." She swallowed the food in her mouth, barely chewing, and winced as it pushed down. "So… um. How would we train?"

"You'll attack me like you mean it."

"Heh._That'll_ be easy." She glanced at him, at his face, his eyes, his hair …his body… was he mad? Who'd want to attack _him_? Kushina would more likely jump on him and kiss him to death, especially after last night. But did she really have a choice? "Okay. But I'm not as fast as you."

"Then you'll have to use your brain."

'I will."

"I want to start this morning." Minato stood up and started to pick up some things for the shower down the hall. "After we shower."

'So soon? Can't I go back to sleep for a few hours first?"

"Yes and no, you can't."

"I suddenly feel sorry for your students." She poked her tongue out at him.

He laughed and threw a towel at her. "Are you coming?"

"Me too?"

"I did say we." He flushed and glanced away.

"Oh. Um… Okay." Kushina followed him.

* * *

Kushina hoped that there wasn't a water shortage. If there was, she and Minato had just helped worsen the problem. It had to be _lunch_ already. They'd stood there, shy all of a sudden, trying to clean themselves with that awareness of the other so close, and then she'd brushed his arm… or he'd brushed hers, Kushina couldn't remember… and somehow they'd been up against the cold tiles, and he'd been much better at it this time than last and… 

"What's with that grin?" Minato glanced up from where he tried to shave. He tried to look offended… but he'd performed much better today. She hadn't lost that silly grin since they'd stopped 'showering'. He was _very_ pleased with himself. The advice from the male shinobi, who'd ambushed him last night, hadn't been completely wrong.

"Nothing. What's with the one you're trying to hide?"

He laughed and leaned over to kiss her, making sure he got froth all over her face.

"Hey, don't make me shower again." She wiped the froth stuff off her face with a towel.

"Hmm… that'd be a good idea, if we didn't have to train. We're already late, I think it's past lunch." He glanced out the opened window; the sun was already high in the sky. Minato glanced from where Kushina was dressing to the dress she'd abandoned. "Are you going to wear that dress?"

"No." She stared at it. It made her a bit uncomfortable. All Kushina could really remember about the night before was being confused and embarrassed, something about sedatives, an older girl called Nara, and something else about pregnancy. Pregnancy! She wasn't pregnant. That was just impossible.

"Why?" He tried to ask casually. Could he help it if he suddenly was getting ideas about training with her while she wore a dress? Kushina's body was being hidden away in men's clothing _again_. He glanced at her body, but there wasn't anything to suggest it was female. But maybe if she…

"Pervert."

"No!" He tore his eyes away.

Kushina laughed again. "Then how long are you going to stand there with your razor half way to your face?"

He twitched and went back to shaving.

Kushina had waited for him in his room in the end. She'd decided she was probably distracting him too much. And she had been told to use her brain, so she _did_ use it while he was finishing up. He'd never said training had to start at the training grounds, after all.

Once he'd come back, they'd gone down to the training grounds together. It was a nice looking training ground with a barbed wire fence, dangerous animals, and other various things that were apparently necessary. And, she noticed with glee, it had water. There was a river and a lake, right in the middle of it. As she looked, it started to rain. The dirt, which had waited for this rain for a long time, was quick to become muddy and waterlogged, puddles formed, and miserable birds huddled in the trees as they waited it out. It was a cold rain, Kushina noticed, hinting at a cold winter to come quickly. They had wondered when it'd come.

"So how will we start training?"

"Attack me and I'll attack back. Okay?"

Kushina nodded and tensed up.

"Now."

She'd been right; Kushina thought with frustration five minutes later, the idiot wasn't the type she could just attack. She did all she could just to defend, to move, to watch him, to somehow predict his speed._Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu _had surprised him immensely and that'd been a sweet moment for her. Over a dozen Kushina had attacked him from behind, the ones she'd cast before while he was shaving.

But even with his skill, it was hard for her to attack him. Kushina didn't care if that expression was alien to her, he wasn't, and she kept trying to resist the urge to attack and kiss him. Was this normal, she wondered, or was she just catching his denied pervert nature?

Then he'd attacked her, she felt a slash on her cheek, and they were both lying in the mud. Minato was pressing his lips to hers in such a hard kiss that she felt her head sink into the mud under them.

"Sorry." He murmured as he grabbed onto her head to examine the cut on her cheek, "Sorry."

"Minato." Kushina was somewhat amused. One cut and he'd completely fell apart, one hint of blood and he was already trying to kiss it better. "Do you always kiss your enemy when you hurt them?"

He blushed and got up, pulling her up with him. "Start again?"

"How do your students keep up?"

"We run if he tries to kiss us." A voice piped up from a tree nearby and then, "Ow, don't hit me!"

"They didn't see us, idiot. You gave us away."

"You're the idiot! What if they kissed again?"

Kushina and Minato stared up into the tree. Three kids sat in a row watching, the same ones from the bakery.

"What are you three up to?" Minato tried to look annoyed but he looked more amused and embarrassed.

"If you're going to neglect _our_ training for a week then we'll learn from _your_ training." That white haired boy replied automatically. He was Kakashi-chan, Kushina remembered, and he didn't look any happier today than he had that other day.

"And we wanted to see you fight someone your own level." The girl added, glancing shyly in Kakashi's direction as if she hoped he'd like what she had to say.

"She's not his level, she can barely keep up." The white haired boy didn't look impressed with the girl, Rin-chan, or with Kushina.

"Don't be rude." Obito-chan was glancing in Rin's direction.

"I'm being honest."

"He's right." Rin glanced at Kakashi again.

"Why aren't you three practicing together?" Minato interrupted them.

"We already told you, we're trying to learn, sensei."

Kushina had enough of this talk, and stared in Minato's direction. They hadn't said they'd paused training, after all, and she was starting to feel a bit annoyed that they didn't seem to think she could fight him. She may have been terrible with taijutsu and speed, but she wasn't so bad with ninjutsu.

"Are we going to keep training?"

Minato glanced at her and nodded. "You don't mind them?"

"No."

"Let's start again then."

* * *

They collapsed on the grass beside the lake, both spent, both soaking wet, and both with various cuts and bruises that covered them from head to toe. And for all of Kushina's enthusiasm, she was still the one who was worse off out of the two. Even when Minato didn't use that flash jutsu much he was fast. But she'd lured him out onto the lake and he'd followed. _That_ had given Kushina some sort of advantage. Minato had been half drowned in one of the whirlpools she created. 

He glanced over at her and wasn't sure if he was supposed to be worried or happy. Minato decided he'd go for worried. There was water in her trip, but there was land too, and even her natural stamina didn't make up for her lack of strength or her inability to use other jutsu. She seemed to stick to the same things, over and over, as if she was incapable of learning new things.

"What's wrong?" Kushina had looked over to Minato and had seen the expression on his face

"Nothing." He glanced away.

"I know something is… but I'm too tired to argue." She sighed and glanced around for the kids. They'd probably gotten hungry; there wasn't any sign of them. Kushina wished she'd asked them to bring some back to her, she felt like she could eat three meals the same size as those kids. "I'm starving."

"You're always starving." He smiled, even with the fear over her leaving, and stood up. "I'll feed you more cake. Come on."

"I can't be bothered moving. I'll sleep here tonight. With the fish in the pond."

Minato laughed and picked her up. She was too light, he noticed, and she was supposed to leave so soon? "You've already got a fish to sleep with. But first, your birthday present."

Kushina nodded, she did like the idea of more cake, but she was having trouble replying. He was so warm, and when she shut her eyes, it was such a nice feeling, the feeling of his body against hers, his legs under them both, and his heartbeat…

She fell asleep.

* * *

AN: I tried to write out the training scenes, I really did! But I'm not too sure on what Kushina's skills are, so I had to do it that way and just guess at what her strengths were. But given how high Naruto's chakra is _without_ the fox's added chakra, it makes sense that he got that off her.

And not as long, sorry:( But I have a deadline for some other writing on friday so I'm trying to do that too. XD


	13. Chapter 11

There were several important things that Minato did over the next few days as Kushina went to train with his friends.

The first of them was the arrangement of a loan. This in itself was a particularly hard thing to do- either a lender would be too afraid of him, too afraid of his association with the other shinobi of Konoha and what they'd do should the lender try to collect late money, or just scornful of his age.

When he'd finally found one and had borrowed the amount he wanted, he'd almost been too late to get the apartment he wanted to buy. Although it wasn't large or well cared for, it was still in a good location of Konoha and was high up off the busy street. It was his reputation that helped him bargain for it. The woman was so in awe that he'd want to buy something from her that she seemed to forget that he was just under the age of eighteen still and wasn't really rich enough to buy better homes than this, forget that he was asking a great deal less than what she wanted and when he'd offered to give her the remaining amount after he paid the loan off, she'd refused whole heartedly and even gave him the fridge as a housewarming gift.

The second thing was that he'd figured out the final details of the new seal he'd been developing. It was a little different from the other jutsu in that it didn't just give him a location to 'flash' to; it also alerted him when a particular thing happened to it or around it. In this case, when it and the thing it was attached to was sent flying at something. Minato had a natural gift with seals and creating Jutsus based on seals but this particular one was much harder than anything he'd tried before. And creating one small scroll with the seal had drained his chakra so much that he'd been asleep for over seventeen hours.

It was worth it though, Minato thought wearily as he watched Kushina sleep, he'd found a way to help her in situations where she'd be too far away to send for help. All she had to do was throw it when the situation was desperate, and he'd know it had been thrown and would be able to 'flash' near the location it landed.

She turned over in her sleep and Minato reached down to brush the hair from her forehead. He smiled when she smiled, what was it that made her smile while she slept?

"Minato. I know that's you." She murmured sleepily, mind groggy, recognizing the feeling of his slightly rough hand on her face. "I haven't seen you awake for days. You were sleeping when I tried to visit you after training."

"Forgive me, I was... I was getting some surprises for you."

"I like surprises from you." Kushina opened her eyes and blinked sleepily up at him. "I hope you're staying here tonight as one of my surprises. When do I get it?"

Minato climbed into the bed beside her, curling up against her warm body and rested his head beside hers. "Just for a minute. You get it soon. I heard you went well today."

"Today?"

"Training."

"Your large bodied friend is so… so... so..." She yawned and shut her eyes as she curled up into Minato's waiting arms. "So... I'm tired. I can't think of a way to put it."

"Unexpectedly hard to fight?"

"Yes, that's a good way to put it." Kushina laughed. "He's scary- I'm glad he's on our side."

"You're scary."

"Why?"

"I keep hearing that you summon shadow clones, try to beat them up with the clones, throw scary Jutsu into them then try to half drown them."

"Am I that predictable?"

"Yes."

"It works." Kushina's voice was getting softer and softer. "If it works, why change it. I'm sorry. I'm tired. I'm going to sleep again."

Minato didn't answer. He waited for her to fall asleep then carefully lifted her up.

* * *

"Wake up. We're home."

She opened her eyes sleepily and was surprised to find them in a strange looking room. It wasn't his room or hers, it was a different place altogether. Kushina was still in Minato's arms, but they were now both on a couch with her in his lap, and he was grinning down at her.

"Do you like it?"

"What?" Kushina continued to look sleepily around the place. Home? Had he gotten lost on the way?

"Home."

"You live in that shinobi building. I live in the refugee building." She replied sleepily, and shut her eyes again. "Your home has cake. I see no cake."

"If you want…" He was suddenly feeling shy again, and couldn't meet her eyes. Minato stared at the window in front of them instead. "If you want… this could be home."

"Huh?" That woke Kushina up.

"I mean, we could live here till you leave. And when you come back." Why was his face going red? It was only natural to live with someone after you'd … with them. It was true that Minato was the first out of his friends to want to do it but… "I sort of … paid for it. Already."

"Seriously?"

"It's not a big place." Minato's face was heating up more as he spoke. "It's just small. On the top floor above some shops, and the kitchen's only tiny so you'll need to put two more fridges in the living room because of your appetite, and the bed's not big yet but…"

"This is great!" She laughed and was up, looking out the windows, in the rooms, looking around. "You own this place?"

"Yea… you too, if you want." Minato watched her. She still hadn't accepted his offer to move in with him.

"I can't afford it."

"I don't care."

"You really want me to live with you?" Kushina stopped her exploring and stared back at Minato. "Really?"

"Yes." Minato wished she'd just say yes or no.

"Okay. But I'm not a very good cook."

Minato's face lit up. He stood and grabbed her, kissing her, and laughed. "I'll cook."

"You'll …" Kushina hesitated as that cake swam into her mind, "…we'll both cook."

"Or we can eat out."

"Okay."

Minato started to pull twigs and leaves out of her hair and out of his, throwing them on the floor.

"…So who does the housework?" She watched as dried mud fell with the other debris.

"Um." Minato's hand froze.

"We'll worry about that later." She stood up and went over to a window. "We're up high."

Minato went over beside her. He pulled her hair to one side and pulled her jacket off. "We are."

"What are you doing?"

"You're wet." She blushed, and he went red too at the implication of those words. "Your clothes are wet."

Minato covered his face with his hand and glanced away. "So, are you hungry? We can cook."

* * *

They stood in the kitchen, a book open and splattered with flour, the fridge hanging wide open and both young shinobi looking determined and exhausted. One held the book, the other held a hand-held beater and a bowl.

"Now what do I do?" Minato looked at Kushina.

"Break two eggs into the bowl."

He nodded and with a serious expression, crushed two eggs over the bowl then let them drop into the flour and milk. Minato held up his gooey hand and made a face. "I hate cooking with eggs."

"…And then pick out the egg shell." She stared at the crushed eggs. So that was why there'd been a strange crunch to the cake in some places?

He went to pick it out, dropping it on the table, making a 'Ew' face as he did. "They feel horrible. Can't we leave them in?"

"Egg shell doesn't soften when it cooks."

"What a shame." He picked out the last bits and hurried over to the tap to wash his hand free of the gunk.

'Then a bit of sugar… or a lot of sugar… and then you beat it with the hand beater till there's no lumps." Kushina put the book out of the way and lit the oven. She put the frying pan on the stove, poured oil into it and smiled wearily. "Then it's easy, we just cook them and flip them when there's bubbles in the pancake."

"Till it boils?"

"I guess that's what the book means." She shrugged and picked up the flippy thing. "I'll do this part."

Minato nodded and poured the batter into the frying pan for her. It was only a bit lumpy with some flour from the bottom that hadn't mixed in, but he'd beaten it, it wasn't his fault if the flour didn't do as it was supposed to.

Kushina waited patiently till it started to boil in the batter and then grinned confidently at Minato. "This should be easy!" She slid the flippy thing under the batter and … the half cooked pancake sent the deep oil everywhere, and all up Kushina's bare arm. She screeched when the oil burnt right up her arm to her neck, Minato grabbed her arm and pushed it under the tap, and in her pain and in his panic they forgot the frying pan. The oil started to smoke and the burst into flames. More oil splattered when he tried to pour water into the fire, spreading it, Minato knocked the flour over and it fell onto a patch of burning oil on the ground. It was lucky it did, when they figured out that flour could put out the fire where water couldn't, they poured the rest of the bag onto the other patches and somehow prevented the fire from burning their new apartment down.

When all had calmed down, Minato went for Raman and burn ointment while Kushina stood there picking off bits of egg shell and pancake as she held her upper body hanging in the freezer- the cool air soothed the stinging burns somewhat. Some of them had even started to blister in a nasty way.

She was grinning even with the burns; it was something that she'd love to tell those kids of his. Minato was a terror of a shinobi when on the battlefield but even more terrifying when exposed to the kitchen. Apparently she was just as bad as he was. Together they could cook for the enemies and defeat them one oil fire and pancake mix at a time.

Minato came back soon. The moment he saw Kushina with her arm and neck red and swollen with burns and blisters was enough to send him into a wave of apologies and promises to never cook again. It wasn't his fault, entirely, but he still apparently felt responsible.

"Just put that cream on the burns while I freeze myself." Kushina tried to smile in what she hoped was a reassuring way. "I'm fine. Burns heal."

"Sensei uses oil in fights. But…" Minato gently applied the ointment with the lightest touch eh could manage and jerked back his hand every time she drew her breath in pain. "…but… I don't think I will now."

"This would work very well on enemies." She glanced down at her body. "It'd slow them down, especially if they have to use hand seals."

"It worked too well on you."

"Ow. No, keep putting it on, it's okay if it hurts a bit when you put that on… the burns already feel better. No… he sounds like he has the right idea with oil." Kushina hesitated and added, "When he's not being a pervert. Do you use it?"

Minato shook his head. "Not often. I have my own way of fighting. The oil is too slow for my liking."

"Everything is too slow." She laughed, grimaced, and then glanced over to the food. Kushina didn't want to leave the cold air even if it was for food. "I'm starving. Can you bring that to the freezer?"

* * *

AN: This one is short too, I'm so sorry! But I think I submitted my assignment in time... I had something like three minutes to go before midnight on the last day. Heh. Just need to wait for conformation from the lecturer and then… gods, I never knew that writing 5.5k words could be so hard! I drank so much pepsi max too. (BTW- Pepsi, I want to be paid for that plug.) In the end it was lemon ice-cream that saved the day. Woot!

Hehehe, I did that with pancakes, including the 'burning half of the body' trick, so I know it's possible. Just remember, if the frying pan catches fire, you don't use water… you pour flour onto it carefully and don't panic:O Flour puts out oil fires. Water spreads it.

I've been doing fanart. :O

http://nocturnalheryn. one has a slightly obvious spoiler from later on in the fanfic.)

http://nocturnalheryn. are very clean, neither are colored, I would love it if someone offered... but I do intend on doing it sometime soon.


	14. Chapter 12

"What do you want to do in the future?"

Kushina back up at Minato. The two were sitting there, bone weary from training, and they had collapsed so that she lay across his legs and he lay across the arm of the couch. Neither of them could even be bothered to get food, it was that desperate, and they'd been spending the past hour half heartedly arguing about who'd be the one to get the food. It was their last night together and she knew that she was supposed to be making it up to him somehow… but Kushina was too tired.

She hesitated and then answered slowly, "I… don't know. I don't think beyond tomorrow if I can help it. What about you?"

"I want to be the Hokage."

Kushina was surprised and shifted over so that she could see his face better. He wasn't joking either, he was deadly serious and he was looking at her as if he was afraid that she'd laugh at him. But Kushina thought that it made sense, somehow, everyone seemed to hold him in high regard and he did _love_ this village and everything in it. "That's great!"

"You really think so?" He relaxed and smiled. "I was afraid you'd laugh at me."

She was right- he had thought that. Kushina reached up to stroke his face with the palm of her hand. "No, really. It's great. I think you'll become Hokage."

He flushed and glanced away. "Most people already think Orochimaru-sama is going to be the fourth. But… but… I'd like to be the Fifth."

"Then I guess I'd like to see you become Hokage." She had almost said 'I'd like to be with you when you become Hokage', but Kushina was too afraid to say things like that. How could you assume you'd be with someone like that?

"What about for your own future though?"

"I'd like…" She hesitated and smiled shyly. Kushina hadn't actually admitted this to anyone, 'liking kids' was often seen as a female thing and she wasn't used to behaving as a female. Minato was the only one who was allowed to see her more vulnerable side. Kushina answered with her eyes preoccupied with the floor, "I'd like to become a jounin and get the trust of Konoha… and then have my own team. Like you have. I don't mind kids. Or maybe, maybe I'd like to become a teacher at your Academy."

"You would be a good teacher."

"You think so?" She laughed when she realized she'd said what he'd said earlier. Kushina understood just how nervous he'd been when he'd said that now. "Hokage and a teacher. Scandalous. You corrupt the shinobi, I'll corrupt their kids."

He felt a bit surprised when she implied that they'd be together then, surprised and delighted. Minato could picture the two of them like that; he as a Hokage and her as the teacher, and he would go to the Academy to see the younger shinobi and be rewarded with her face at the same time…

"I mean…" She had noticed how he hadn't answered and went red. "I mean… you know, if we're together… if… yeah."

"I'd like that." He leaned down to kiss her hand, it was the only thing he could be bothered reaching for, and added, "Do you want your own kids?"

Kushina flushed and glanced away. She still hadn't told him that there was a big question mark beside her name as far as 'pregnant?' went… but she'd already been thinking about that over the past week. Kushina had deliberately pretended to have less chakra than she really did, she was afraid that if she was pregnant that she'd harm any possible babies who might need it too. She'd also realized that she'd known nothing about babies and pregnancy, not as far as a shinobi went. Did it matter if she trained hard, did it matter if she used Chakra?

"I… do you?" She was afraid of his answer. What if he said no, and Kushina was pregnant? She'd come back to Konoha in a few months because they'd sent her back pregnant and he'd reject her…

"Yes."

The relief was obvious on Kushina's voice when she said, "Me too."

They both went quiet for a few minutes, both preoccupied with their own thoughts.

Kushina decided to break the silence with, "…so you're getting the food, right?"

He laughed and slowly got up. "Okay. I'll get it tonight."

* * *

The last day. The last day and then… 

Kushina stood there numbly, staring at Minato's sleeping reflection in the mirror, barely aware that she'd stood there like that for fifteen minutes, or that she was shivering from the cool morning air in her half-dressed state, barely aware of anything but him and his placid face. He only had to turn over in his sleep so he was facing the bathroom, only have to shift in her direction, only had to look so …so…

She was already falling apart and he hadn't even woken up yet.

Kushina wondered what he'd say if he woke up and found out that he'd slept through her departure. She'd done what Tsunade had suggested, drugged him with a mild sleeping sedative. It was so that it'd be easier on them both. He'd wake up, she'd have gone, and she wouldn't have to walk from Konoha knowing that Minato's eyes were on her as she took every step away from him.

It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. Kushina didn't know if she'd have been so infatuated with him if they'd have met in different circumstances, or that she'd fall in lo… she'd feel so strongly in such a short time… if things had been different. Maybe it'd been because she needed to have that over the past few weeks? Maybe she'd leave for a few months and one or both of them would forget their feelings, would find another, they would think 'What a fun couple of months we spent together' and when she returned, it would be awkward for the two of them. Would she wait for him to ask her to come back to the apartment or would she automatically find her own home, assuming that it was just a short fun fling between the two of them?

Sunlight half blinded her as the sun peeped over the roofs of the surrounding buildings and spilt into the apartment. Kushina went back to dressing. Long tough pants, jacket, boots… her hand hesitated over Minato's forehead protector. He hadn't asked for it back since he'd swapped their Konoha band. She picked it up… even thought they might forget how they felt now… she was going to try her best to stay feeling this way for as long as she could. It was the best feeling, the best thing that Kushina had ever had, she'd never felt quite so comfortable and attracted to anyone before. She didn't feel one bit of shame for the speed they had gone at or what she hoped they might eventually have together. It was sort of exciting and frightening. The ultimate mission, she'd heard someone call this sort of thing, and Kushina understood why.

He shifted over in his sleep again and she tore her eyes away from the back of his head. Kushina had to go. She hoisted the pack over her shoulder and left him there.

Minato opened one eye, grinned and leapt out of bed. He had originally thought that he'd kill her the night before, he wasn't an idiot shinobi who didn't know when to spot that sort of thing, but this idea was so much more fun. He strode across the room to the window and watched till she left the building and went down the street. Did she _really_ think she was getting to the Hokage uncaught?

He snatched up parts of his clothing from the ground. Minato pulled them on as fast as he could manage, almost tripping over some of the clothing on the floor as he hopped around pulling a sandal on, and then jumped out of a window, onto a roof and somehow made it to the ground without breaking an ankle.

She was _not_ getting to the Hokage uncaught.

Kushina walked down the long hallway, staring around her, feeling just as intimidated as ever by the large building. Shinobi passed her without any hint or suggestion that she mattered in any sense to them but Kushina knew better- they would tense, she knew that they would probably watch her when her back was to them, and no one really trusted her as a Konoha shinobi yet.

A hand covered Kushina's mouth, another around her waist and she was pulled into a closet. Kushina's instincts didn't fail her, a kunai was out and already going for the attacker's soft waist and there was the feeling of metal against metal when a kunai deflected her attack.

"You're not allowed to stab me." Minato whispered into Kushina's ear and laughed softly, lis lips finding her soft earlobe. "Till I'm done."

"Mi…Minato…" She watched him jam the door shut with a chair and then he had pressed her against the wall, his hands pulling… no, ripping… at the jacket. She could see several buttons flying off into the darkness. "I need that top, Minato, don't rip it."

He laughed. "I won't rip it then." Minato started to shred it to bits with the kunai instead, dropping large strips of her clothing onto the ground around them. He ignored her hands, they were attempting to push him away but they weren't resisting too much and bit at Kushina's soft neck, her ear, her shoulder, kissing and biting, growling a little when she went to dodge under him.

"I… wait, I need to see the Hokage… and …I'm leaving!" Kushina gasped when his hand, the one that wasn't trying to cut the pants off, found a breast and was stroking the tender skin. "Don't cut that…" There was the shock of the air against her legs as the pants finally slid down onto the ground. "I need my clothes, Minato!"

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I seem to have lost my clothing. Send me another day." Minato dropped the kunai and pressed up against Kushina, pulling her legs around his waist, his mouth shifting from its attentions on her neck and ear to her lips. She may have been pretending to resist but the kiss didn't hide anything.

"I… can't… we're in a broom closet."

"You're very observant." Minato's hands were sliding along Kushina's bare legs, up along her sides, Kushina's body shuddered when they touched the part of her waist that was unusually sensitive, they were behind them, and she arched her back when his mouth left hers to find one of her breasts.

He glanced up at her, pleased by the way her face was flushed, her chest was heaving, her body was sweating and so was his, it was getting hard for Minato to hold her up with the way their bodies slid against each other, the way his body was so aware of hers being so near and yet so far… he couldn't wait and pressed up into her, watching her face as he slid into her body, her eyes met his and he swallowed, hesitated, afraid that he'd loose control. The look on her face was… was… and her lips, they were parted, she was begging him to kiss her with her lips, begging him to move with her eyes…

Kushina gasped when he pressed into her, her legs tensing around his waist before she forced them to relax, her back arching so that her hips pressed into his. She couldn't believe how much her lips ached to touch his. He seemed to know it; Minato's lips were suddenly assaulting hers again, their tongues trying to work together, and heads bumping. Kushina reached up to pull his head away from hers an inch, ignoring the little whines of protest he made when their lips parted, the way his body seemed to make up for the lack of lips touching by his hips moving faster against heres, her darker eyes gazing into his beautiful lighter ones. He had such beautiful eyes….

"I love you too." He whispered, very aware of how she looked, aware of the way her legs hugged his body, the way her body was tight and perfect fitting around him… and he couldn't get over the look in Kushina's face, every time he moved in her, every time he kissed her or his lips brushed her lips, he was in total awe of how _he_ did that to her. Minato leaned forward to kiss her lips, her flushed cheeks, her forehead, her neck, her ears, trying to memorize the feel and the smell of every inch of her. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you." Kushina shut her eyes and tried to forget that they'd be apart for so long, that maybe he'd forget her, she was starting to feel that if he did forget her… if he didn't feel like this when she returned…. Maybe she wouldn't be so okay with it after all. She didn't mean to say it, Kushina never liked to talk about the weaker side… but it slipped out anyway. "Please don't stop liking me."

"Loving you? Never." Minato froze; his head back to stare at her. Her eyes were avoiding his now and her lips were trembling. He felt the urge to prove it to her then and there with everything he could think of. Why hadn't he brought food too? He could feed her till she didn't feel so bad anymore.

"Okay."

"I mean it." Minato's entire body stopped moving then and he stared intensely into her eyes, moving one hand to move her face back to his. "I mean it, Kushina. I'm going to wait for you, and I'm going to bring you back to this closet the second I can touch you again, and then I'll make sure you can't ever leave my sight again."

Kushina felt tears fall then and he was kissing them, kissing her, kissing her weak smile. "I'll… wait too."

"Good."

"Can you… keep going now…don't stop." She whispered and hid her face in his shoulder, embarrassed, but who could blame her? Kushina hadn't noticed when her body had gotten into this state but now that it was, and now that he'd made her cry like this, it'd be cruel if he stopped.

Minato hoisted her up against the wall, readjusting his hold on her lower half, and was thrusting into her again, faster, his lips were against hers again, their mouths were trying to mimic what their bodies were doing, she was moaning and he tried to quieten her moans with his mouth… but he was moaning just as loud, he knew it, and then he felt her shudder against him, her eyes widening, her body doing something amazing around his body…

She gasped and cried out loudly, Kushina's voice echoing around the tiny room, her hips shaking and body arching as something seemed to spill over from inside her, she couldn't do anything but cling to him with her arms and legs because she had lost all sense of being able to do anything else.

Minato lost completely control at the sound of her and came, his legs giving way, the two of them falling to the ground in their pile of clothing, the dust sticking to their sweaty bodies, several brooms and buckets being knocked to one side.

They clutched to each other, unable to move, Kushina against the wall with her legs still around his waist and his body kneeling over hers. It was several minutes before they were able to shift into better positions.

Minato knew that she was late and started to pull the shredded remains off her.

Kushina stared at the clothing on the floor. It was totally unwearable. "Minato…"

"It's okay. I brought you spare." He grinned at her in the near-darkness and started to dress her, pushing her hands away when she tried to help. "No… I'm dressing you."

"What will I tell them? I'm so late…"

"I was training you."

She laughed and he laughed too. Kushina leaned up to kiss his swollen lips. "You're getting good at training."

He blushed and busied himself about getting his pants onto Kushina. And then the bra thing…

"I can do that one."

"Thanks." He waited and pulled his top onto her, the jacket, Minato pulled at her beautiful hair, gently, running fingers through it and watching carefully so he didn't pull on any knots.

"Are you two done yet?"

They jumped and stared at the door. It was opening a crack and someone was peering in. "I need to get to the brooms."

* * *

Minato stood at the gate and watched as she walked away from Konoha. He understood, logically, duty was always the first thing in a shinobi's life. He understood. It was a life he'd agreed to, the life he'd lived while Kushina was in Konoha, and he'd gone on missions while she waited. 

Was this how it felt to watch someone you loved leave on a mission? He'd enver experienced it before, that horrible torment- daydreams of pulling her back, of the Hokage changing his mind at the last minute, of Kushina hesitating and turning around to tell the Hokage that she'd had enough of war and that she'd like to become a 'desk shinobi'… but Minato knew that nothing like that would happen. This was the life they'd chosen.

She didn't turn around. Kushina could feel his eyes on the back of her head and she understood now why Tsunade had suggested the sleeping potion. Every step, every movement of her legs, it was like she was made of stone or of stiff metal… it was _agony_. Kushina didn't look back. She wanted to remember him as she'd left him in the broom closet, pink faced, grinning sheepishly, trying to blurt out any old excuse to the bemused cleaner who didn't look at all fooled.

Finally they were out of sight of Konoha and out of sight of Minato. Kushina sighed and tried to relax, it would be a long trip.

It wasn't till later that night that she found the present he'd left in her pack- the strange looking kunai with the scroll around it, and a small note that said 'use only if all other fighting options are gone'. Kushina hadn't any idea what that was supposed to mean. And several 'use in emergencies' chocolates. Kushina didn't know if she was supposed to laugh or cry, so she did both.

She'd miss him so much.

* * *

A/N Thankyou for the reviews! o 

Picture of them in the closet here-

http://sessy. PG picture, at least. XD

This was FIVE pages in word. XD Darn you for making it look shorter.


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